Posted: Oct 09, 2020

Bigtime at Bethel

OVERVIEW

Event: Bethel Invitational
Men's Finish: 10th of 14 / 298 points
Team Time: 2:32:47
First Runner: Jeremy Fopma - 5th - 26:26 (8K)
Women's Finish: 15th of 15 / 427 points
Team Time: 2:08:53
First Runner: Abigail Doak - 48th - 21:25 (5K)
Location: South Bend, Ind. / St. Patrick's County Park
Next: Saturday, October 17 at Jayhawk Invitational (Muskegon, Mich.)

STORY

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- After two weeks of no meets, Jeremy Fopma and the Sabercats exploded onto the scene with their first 8K of the 2020 season.

Fopma set the fastest time in Maranatha Men's Cross Country history with a 26:26 8K - two seconds better than his Bethel Invite run in 2019 and 26 seconds off of his PR. Behind Fopma's fifth-place finish, six more runners punched their ticket to NCCAA Nationals on the men's side, and the squad locked in their place at the season finale in their first available opportunity.

Overall, the team finished 10th out of 14, improving on their 2019 time by a full eight minutes.

Cornerstone (NAIA) finished first for the Men's 8K, compiling just 45 points in a 92-runner field. Cornerstone's Luke Pohl won the event with a blazing 25:41 8K time.

This was the second 5K of the year for the Women's Team, and the improvement varied from runner to runner. Abigail Doak shaved a minute and a half off of her team-leading time, Sierra John trimmed her own time by 16 seconds and Katie Jean Lingle cut 50 off of her time from earlier this season, but the team still finished just under four minutes off of the team-qualifying time for NCCAA Nationals.

Bethel's Emma Mott cut the tape with an 18:18 5K, and Indiana Wesleyan held off St. Francis (Ill.) to win the event by a mere six seconds.

Find details for each meet as they are made available at mbusabercats.com/schedule.

RESULTS (Men's 8K)