HOLLAND, Mich. – The Trine University men's cross country team took the course at the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Championships on Saturday and brought home a third-place team finish. The Calvin University Knights (17) were the champions of the conference after securing the top four spots on the leaderboard and Hope College (56) was second, finishing with slightly fewer points than the Thunder (60).
Trine had four members of their men's team named All-MIAA. Sophomore Ryan Hoopingarner was the lone representative on the All-MIAA First Team with a fifth-place time of 24:36.4, a new career-best. He is the first All-MIAA First Team member since 2019.
Junior Joseph Packard and freshman Max VanHuis were 11th (25:06.6) and 12th (25:09.0) overall to score two of the slots on the All-MIAA Second Team. Each of them topped their own previous best times as well in the 8K. Junior Eli Lantz was scored in 15th to grab Trine's final All-MIAA selection on the Second Team at 25:20.6 (career-best). Packard and Lantz were each All-MIAA Second Team in 2022 and now have two postseason all-conference awards to their names.
The final scoring member for the Thunder was senior Jacob Myers. He narrowly missed out on All-MIAA honors with a 17th place time of 25:26.6 (career-best). Blockers for Trine included junior Gehrig Longe at 25:38.6 and sophomore Tyler Hartleroad at 25:40.9, good for 22nd and 23rd on the leaderboard.
Trine looks ahead to the NCAA Great Lakes Regional at Silver Creek Metro Park in Norton, Ohio on Saturday, November 11. It is there where the Thunder will see if they have what it takes to qualify to compete for an NCAA National Championship.
