Men's Cross Country Takes Second at Bethel Invite
MISHAWAKA, Ind. – No. 12 Taylor put together a great showing at the Bethel Invitational on Friday. The team logged its best time of the season, while placing second among the field of 14.
TU's top five runners all finished in the top-25 on their way to a team time of 132:13. Taylor collected only 66 points on the evening, defeating multiple top-25 teams, including No. 11 Aquinas, No. 13 Cornerstone, No. 17 Indiana Tech and No. 19 Madonna. No. 10 Indiana Wesleyan was the lone team able to overcome TU's speed.
Top finishers from the Trojans helped propel them to a second-place position, including two top-10, four top-20 and seven top-35 runners.
Once again, Hunter Smith paced the Purple and Gold, notching a 26:04.0 time and placing sixth. Following closely was Josh Roth who took eighth-place with a time of 26:14.1. For the third-consecutive race, Ben Byrd was one of Taylor's top three runners grabbing a time of 26:17.1 and landing in eleventh-place.
Young talent also stepped up for the Trojans, as a pair of freshmen scored for the team and posted personal-best times. Connor White logged a 20th-place finish with a time of 26:43.3, while Alex Helmuth grabbed 24th, tallying a 26:55.1 time.
No. 12 TU (29-2) will return to action for the Great Lakes Invite in Grand Rapids, Michigan on October 20th.