Michaela Buriff competes for Grace College at Friday’s Huntington Invite. Photo provided

Grace Takes On Huntington Invite

Grace’s cross country team continued the 2020 campaign with the Huntington Invitational on Friday.

The men placed third in the field, and the women were fifth overall.

Grace ran a strategic race, keeping its runners in tight packs. Logan Rufenacht, Isaac Beatty and Bryan Hernandez-Rios all finished at 27:51, and Hayden Mullett was only three seconds behind at 27:54.

Dakota Ames and Macallister Cheek crossed the finish line together at 28:19, and Maurice Macklin, Matt Halbakken, Peter Simmon and Dimitri Margaritidis finished in consecutive spots between 28:35 to 28:42.

The women were even more concise with their finishers. The Lady Lancers’ top seven runners all finished within a span of 22 seconds.

Makenzie Adams, Mallory Hiatt and Anna Hulstedt were the top finishers together at 21:38.

Ellie Wagoner (21:46), Heather Plastow (21:47) and Elizabeth Moore (21:48) were neck-and-neck, and Weslea Arthur was not far behind at 22:00.

“This was a great effort-based day for us. We rested some and had the rest of our runners tempo the race,” said Grace head coach Jake Poyner. “I’m proud of their efforts. We go again next weekend, and we will be in full force for that one.”

The Lancers’ next race is in South Bend on Oct. 9 for their fourth race of the season.