MARION, Ind. -- The Trine men's cross country team placed fourth in the Indiana Wesleyan University Twilight Invitational Friday evening.
Competing against a field nearly entirely composed of NAIA competition, the Thunder saw all five of its scoring runners finish in the top 30 in the 11-team field. Trine was one of three NCAA Division III teams to compete in the Invitational. Thunder runners boasted the top nine times by Division III competitors in the event. Their efforts combined to score Trine 105 points.
Adam Schaaf (Greentown, Ind. / Eastern) paced the Thunder with a sixth-place finish. The junior ran a time of 26:37.4 on the 8K course. The 2014 All-MIAA First Team performer averaged a 5:21.4 mile and was able to finish at the head of a pack of four runners who finished within three seconds of each other.
Jonathan Phillips (Royal Center, Ind. / Pioneer) finished second among Trine runners with a time of 27:14.9. Phillips' time was a career-best in the 8K by more than one minute.
Kody Snyder (Burnettsville, Ind. / Twin Lakes), Cody Verhey (Martinsville, Ind. / Martinsville) and Lewis Duke (Greentown, Ind. / Eastern) rounded out runners who scored for the Thunder, as each runner finished in the top-30. The trio of runners finished within seven seconds of each other. Snyder led the way in 26th, while Verhey finished just behind in 27th and Duke placed 29th.
Aaron Mast (Ligonier, Ind. / West Noble), Nicholas Zak (Saint John, Ind. / Hanover Central), Jordan Zamarron (Ionia, Mich. / Ionia) and Garrett Benedict (Grenfield, Ind. / Greenfield Central) each placed ahead of the top runners from fellow Division III participants Anderson and Franklin.
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Trine will get its first taste of conference competition in the MIAA Jamboree hosted by Alma Saturday, Sep. 24.