Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
MISHAWAKA – Grace College’s cross country team competed at the Bethel Invitational on Friday.
The race, held at St. Patrick’s Park, was filled with familiar opponents including six other schools from the Crossroads League. Friday evening’s meet was highlighted by warm, humid weather on a wide open course.
The women had their best race of the year with the top-five runners only 46 seconds apart.
Aubrey Breininger, Liz Fox and Suzanne Sickafoose all had personal records, and McCalah Mast and Karla Singer finished with season-best times.
Breininger paced the Lady Lancers in 20:01, and Fox (20:24) and Mast (20:37) were not far behind. Singer’s 20:45 and Mast’s 20:47 rounded out the team’s top five.
The men’s team placed ninth out of 14 teams despite having two of the squad’s best four runners out.
Sam Hall was strong with a time of 27:18. Ben Rankin (27:52) and Brendan Hamilton (27:57) kept a tight pack behind Hall.
Jonathan Balda was fourth for the Lancers in 28:09, and Drew Jones was next in line at 29:13.
The Lancers’ next race is the Great Lakes Challenge in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Oct. 21.
Grace Completes Sweep Of Foresters
HUNTINGTON – Grace College’s volleyball team earned its third consecutive win with a 3-0 victory at Huntington on Friday.
The Lady Lancers (14-9, 7-4 Crossroads League) tightened their grip on third place in the league standings by completing the season sweep of Huntington.
Five players from Grace had at least seven kills in a balanced effort. As a team Grace produced 43 kills, seven more than the Foresters (10-13, 5-7 CL). Alexa Hill paced Grace’s attack with 34 assists to go along with 11 digs.
Grace led from start to finish in the opening set, claiming a 25-18 win. The Foresters were held to a .045 hitting percentage in the game.
Offensively, Grace had its strongest performance in the second set. The Lady Lancers racked up 18 kills with only five errors en route to a 25-21 win.
The third set was also the most action-packed. Grace stayed in front for the majority of the game, but Huntington refused to fade.
The score was tied at 21-21, 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24 as the teams traded points. But Grace finally broke through after an error from the Foresters and a match-clinching kill from Kari Feddema.
Sierra Smith led all players with 12 kills, adding a solo and two block assists. Caylie Teel had a dynamic performance with nine kills and a team-high 17 digs, and Feddema produced 8 kills, 1 solo block and 1 block assist.
Naarah Foster and Savannah Hart each had seven kills, Sara Miller tallied 14 digs, and Gina Novotny dug 13 times.
The Lady Lancers remain on the road Saturday at 4 p.m. against St. Francis.
