ADA, Ohio – The Trine University men's cross country team ran at Ohio Northern University on Saturday morning for the Polar Bear Invitational, the first meet of the 2022 season.
The Thunder secured a second-place finish in the event, just six points from taking home the team championship. The host institution, Ohio Northern, were the victors with 31 points and Trine P2 with 37 points.
Senior Noah Acker was the top collegiate runner in the 6K event with a time of 19:18.4. That was good for second-place overall and marks a good start for the All-Regional recipient one season ago.
Freshman Ryan Hoopingarner made quite the impact in his first collegiate race with a fourth-place finish of 19:31.8. He was the second-highest finishing member of the Thunder team.
Junior Zachary Brickler and senior Jacob Myers also contributed with top-10 performances. Brickler was eighth with a time of 19:46.2 while his running mate was just behind him in ninth at 19:47.6.
Freshman Drew Sillaway, sophomore Eli Lantz and freshman Tanner McMain rounded out the scoring members for Trine. Sillaway was 15th place (20:16.6), with Lantz in 20th spot overall (20:31.1) and McMain 24th (20:35.4).
Up next for Trine is their closest event of the season, the Rumble in the Fort at Purdue University-Fort Wayne on Friday, September 9th. The men's race is scheduled to begin at 6:45 pm.