ANGOLA, IND.-- The Trine women's cross country team can make program history this Saturday in the MIAA Championship race at Olivet College.
This year's squad already set a school record in September for Trine's best ever finish in the MIAA Jamboree, placing third. Since joining the MIAA in 2004, no Trine women's cross country team had finished higher than seventh in the event. With last month's Jamboree result making up one-third of the conference standings, this Saturday's MIAA Championship race will determine the remaining two-thirds of league scoring. Similar to the Jamboree, Trine women's cross country has never earned a higher MIAA Championship result than seventh before this fall.
Sophomore Kyla Binfet (West Yellowstone, Mont./West Yellowstone) looks to follow up an impressive MIAA Jamboree showing, in which she led all Trine performers. Binfet is expected to be the top Thunder runner in this Saturday's championship race and could contend for an all-conference spot.
Trine will find its leadership from senior Courtney Forsythe (West Mansfield, Ohio/Benjamin Logan). The senior has remained one of the top runners in the program in all of her four seasons, including an especially strong senior campaign. Forsythe looks to carry her momentum from two weeks ago, when she led all Trine runners at the UW-Oshkosh AAE Invitational.
Another upperclassman contributing to the Thunder's success is junior Kelsey Ortiz (Swanton, Ohio/Anthony Wayne). Ortiz finished second in team standings to Forsythe at the last meet in Wisconsin and bested Forsythe the week prior in the Bethel Invitational.
Joining Binfet with a strong performance last month in the MIAA event was freshman Samantha Stensland (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern). These underclassmen will need a solid second act against their MIAA rivals.
