BOURBONNAIS, ILL.  --  Senior Jonathan Phillips (Royal Center, Ind./Pioneer) finshed in the top-10 individually to lead the Trine University men's cross country team to a third-place finish at the Midwest Intercollegiate Championships hosted by Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill.

As a team, the Thunder posted a combined score of 94 points to place third of 18 scoring teams.

Trine had a total of 18 runners compete in the event with Phillips turning in the top time for the team of 26:09.67 and placed sixth overall out of 237 runners.  Sophomore Jack Beakas (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb) had the second-best time for Trine and came in 10th place after completing the 8K course in a time of 26:15.26.

Junior Villis Vuskalns (Indianapolis, Ind./Beech Grove) rounded out the top-20 finishers with a time of 26:28.92 which was good enough for 18th place.

Four sophomores rounded out the scoring times beginning with Noah Acker (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) who ran a time of 26:48.35 and came in 29th place.  He was followed by Neil O'Brien (Whiteland, Ind./Roncalli) who turned in a mark of 26:50.38 and was followed by Alex Amaro (Fort Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran) who had a time of 27:03.20.

Harrison Korkos (Rochester, Ind./Rochester) had the final scoring time at 27:10.42.

"Without several top guys, we still walked away with quite a few personal bests," said Head Coach Zach Raber.  "Jonathan and Jack ran up front the whole race and really stuck themselves into the thick of it. They both ran well.  We needed some of our sophomore guys to step up today and they seemed to answer the call."

Trine will next compete in the Oshkosh Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh) on Saturday, Oct. 13 in Oshkosh, Wis.  The race is scheduled to begin at 12:15 a.m. EST.

Trine Finishers










Jonathan Phillips   --  26:09.67 (6th)

Jack Beakas   --   26:15.26 (10th)
Vilis Vuskalns   --   26:28.92 (18th)

Noah Acker   --   26:48.35 (29th)

Neil O'Brien   --   26:50.38 (31st)
Alex Amaro   --   27:03.20 (41st)

Harrison Korkos   --   27:10.42 (42nd)

Brandon Sill   --   28:41.20 (113th)

Luke Balciunas   --   28:42.12 (115th)

Josh McCallum   --   29:05.74 (126th)

Trent Sakos   --   29:06.81 (127th)

Will Huffman   --   29:07.02 (129th)

Chase Guenin   --   29:17.90 (137th)

Jacob Rider   --   29:44.42 (150th)
Chris Sanchez   --   30:01.63 (158th)

Scott Beckmann   --   30:13.19 (166th)

Seth Knepper   --   31:33.14 (194th)

Ryan Poling   --   34:05.48 (219th)