The Hillsdale College men's cross country team continued a strong start to the season with another impressive showing at the Lucian Rosa Invite on Saturday morning in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The Chargers placed their entire scoring five in the top 15 in the race to finish with 40 points, just behind champion and 19th-ranked team in NCAA DII, UC-Colorado Springs who came home with 27 points.

Leading the way for the Chargers was junior and Lansing Community College transfer Gabriel Phillips, who nearly matched his lifetime 8K personal best with a time of 25:30.3 to finish third overall. Senior Ross Kuhn had a top five finish as well for Hillsdale, crossing the line in fifth with a time of 25:40.3, just ahead of teammate Richie Johnston who took sixth in 25:43.20.

Junior Nathaniel Osborne had a breakthrough race for the Chargers to place 12th with a lifetime best in the 8K of 26:04.4, and sophomore Caleb Youngstedt was the all-important fifth Hillsdale runner to complete the race, taking 14th in 26:09.0 and helping Hillsdale easily outdistance host Parkside and Northern Michigan for second place.

Freshmen Zach Self and Will Winsor also placed for the Chargers, with Self taking 26th in a personal-best 8K time of 27:10.6, and Winsor placing 27th in a personal best time of 27:13.9 as well for Hillsdale.

The Chargers now head into several weeks of training in October in preparation for the G-MAC Cross Country Championships hosted by Hillsdale on Oct. 26. There's one more tune-up meet for the Chargers, the Jayhawk Collegiate Invitational in Muskegon, before then.

Photo by Elaine Kutas