Trailblazer Cross Country moves up in rankings at Nationals

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Vincennes University Men's and Women's Cross Country teams entered the NJCAA Division I National Championship meet Saturday morning ranked No. 24 and No. 21 respectively.

Both teams were able to place ahead of these rankings Saturday morning at John Hunt Park in Alabama, with VU women's team taking home 18th overall and the VU men's team placing 23rd overall.

The No. 24 VU men's team got the day started with the Men's 8K and were led by a very strong finish by freshman Cody Noel (Hebron, Ind.) who finished with a time of 26:22.5 to place 71st overall out of 208 runners.

Freshman Tanner Spence (Carmi, Ill.) was the next Trailblazer across the line, finishing with a time of 26:54.4 and taking 96th overall.

Sophomore Griffin Worzella (Martinsville, Ind.) and freshmen Nathan Whitehead (Vincennes, Ind.) and John Hackney (Evansville, Ind.) all finished in a big group, with Worzella taking 165th overall with a time of 28:55.3.

Whitehead crossed the line at 29:03.2 to take 168th and Hackney was right behind at 29:05.5 for 170th overall.

Freshman Caden Hostetler (LaGrange, Ind.) placed 178th overall with a final time of 29:36.7 and sophomore Matthew Gray (Washington, Ind.) closed out the VU men's race with a time of 30:45.2 and a 191st place finish overall.

The VU men's team placed 23rd overall out of 28 teams competing with a total of 624 points.

"Today's race had great weather on a fast course," VU Head Cross Country Coach Tyler Steigenga said. "The men were the first race of the day. Everyone went out faster in the first mile than any other race this season."

"Cody had a good day, managing to knock six seconds off his PR," Steigenga added. "Tanner had the best race of the day for the men with an almost one minute PR. After that, Griffin had a good race, taking 10 seconds off his PR and Nathan, who has been struggling with a knee issue for the whole season, but he was able to tough it out and finish the race at Nationals. He was well off his best but I'm proud of him for gutting it out for the team."

"John ran the most consistent race of anyone on the team and finished with a 45 second PR," Steigenga said. "Caden, who has been our normal No. 3 runner, had an off day."

"It's been a tough season on the men's side but we managed to at least beat our ranking," Steigenga added. "Coming into the season, Isaac was the only returner from last year that ran at Nationals. After his injury at Louisville, our Nationals team became five freshmen and two sophomores who didn't run at Nationals last year. It was a difficult situation to be in and our place today doesn't reflect the goals that we had or what we did earlier in the year. Luckily, with five of our top six runners returning next year, we'll have a good place to build from."

The No. 21 VU women's team was next to take the course for the Women's 5K with the Blazers being paced by freshman Adi Fuller (Evansville, Ind.) who finished with a time of 20:09.4 and placing 71st overall out of 180 runners.

Freshman Emilly Barbosa (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and sophomore Ada Peterman (Clay City, Ill.) were the next VU runners across the line, with Barbosa finishing with a time of 20:36.9 and Peterman finishing at 20:54.6, good for 93rd and 99th respectively.

Freshman Lani Baskett (Sebree, Ky.) finished with a time of 21:11.7 and placed 114th, while fellow freshman Jasmyn Self (Casey, Ill.) was close behind at 21:39.3 and 127th overall.

Freshmen Madeline Esslinger (Bloomington, Ind.) and Grayson Haynes (Sebree, Ky.) closed out the Trailblazers day at Nationals with Esslinger crossing the line at 22:35.5 and Haynes posting a time of 22:41.2 good for 144th and 147th respectively.

The VU women's team had a big improvement on the ranking Saturday, finishing 18th overall as a team out of 27 teams with a total of 473 points.

"The women all ran great today," Steigenga said. "Every one of them ran their season best time, which resulted in us beating our ranking by a few places and finishing 18th as a team."

"Adi went out conservatively and passed over 36 runners to finish a second off her PR," Steigenga added. "Emily followed a similar race plan, moving up 30 places as our second runner. I'm very proud of Emily for toughing out the race as she's had a bone bruise for the second half of the season and hasn't been able to run much."

"Ada and Lani both had strong races, PRing by around 20 seconds," Steigenga said. "It's been awesome to see Lani improve this year as she's run over two minutes faster than in high school. Jasmyn had the biggest PR of the day for the women, improving by 41 seconds. Maddie went out running really strong with Jasmyn but faded in the last mile, still managing her best race of the season. Grayson had a great kick and really had to work the last 400 meters of the race to get her PR."

"Like the men, most of the women's team will return next year as Ada is the lone sophomore," Steigenga added. "I'm very happy with their effort today. We got off to a very rough start through the first three meets but they have come a long way and performed well when it mattered."

A few members of the VU Cross Country teams have already headed for home, but a few Trailblazers will stay in Alabama for a couple of extra days to compete in the 2023 NJCAA Half-Marathon National Championships Tuesday, Nov. 14 at John Hunt Park.

VINCENNES RESULTS

MEN'S RESULTS

VU (23) – 624 points

Cody Noel (71) – 26:22.5

Tanner Spence (96) – 26:54.4

Griffin Worzella (165) – 28:55.3

Nathan Whitehead (168) – 29:03.2

John Hackney (170) – 29:05.5

Caden Hostetler (178) – 29:36.7

Matthew Gray (191) – 30:45.2

WOMEN'S RESULTS

VU (18) – 473 points

Adi Fuller (71) – 20:09.4

Emilly Barbosa (93) – 20:36.9

Ada Peterman (99) – 20:54.6

Lani Baskett (114) – 21:11.7

Jasmyn Self (127) – 21:39.3

Madeline Esslinger (144) – 22:35.5

Grayson Haynes (147) – 22:41.2