EAST LANCING, Mich. – For the first time in nearly 40 years the Messiah men's cross country team sent multiple runners to the NCAA Division III National Championship with
Logan Horst and
Andrew Hutchinson both running in East Lancing, Mich. on Saturday afternoon. Horst and Hutchinson ran together through snowy conditions to claim top-100 finishes. Horst took 95th in a time of 26:03.3 and Hutchinson finished just two tenths of a second behind in 96th place with a time of 26:03.5.
John Caroll's Alex Phillips won the individual race with a time of 24:37.6 while MIT claimed the Team Championship with 82 total points, well ahead of second-place Wartburg's 129 points.
Horst and Hutchinson started their race in the middle of the pack of 294 runners. After a mile, the pair sat in 170th and 186th place with Horst needing 5:08.7 to complete a mile and Hutchinson clocking the opening mile in 5:10.0.
After 4.6 Kilometers, the pair had jumped ahead of multiple runners. Hutchinson sat in 146th place in a time of 15:05.7 and Horst less than a second behind in in 151st place in 15:06.3
The pair continued to push forward, advancing to 117th and 121st place with Hutchinson just in front with one kilometer to go. Horst and Hutchinson made their biggest move over the final kilometer, Horst moved up 26 spots from 121st place to 95th over the final stretch, finishing the race with a time of 26:03.3. Hutchinson jumped up 21 spots in the final kilometer, finishing in 96th place with a time of 26:03.3.
It was a strong showing for both Horst and Hutchinson, who earned top-100 finishes in front of 21 members of the Messiah cross country teams that made the trip to Michigan to see the race.
