800-meter National Champion Jake Waterman paces the field at the start of the race
Shane Hoerbert and Bill McManus hold on to a slight lead early in the race.
Nick Boyce
Jake Waterman
Dalton Boyer
Coach Roger Busch shouts encouragement to Ryan Horner as he takes off on his last mile.
Jacob Caddick runs through the Arboretum
Doug Baker takes off on his last mile
Nick Boyce and Jake Waterman take handoffs from their running partners.
Nick Boyce enters the stadium
Shane Herbert rounds the first curve
Billy McManus and Shane Hoerbert in first and second place
Jake Waterman finishes his second mile.
Dan Hoover
Ryan Horner
Cole Hruskovich exits the stadium and heads for the woods.
Jake Waterman nears the end of his first mile on the course
Sean Lewis
Zach Mahone
Dalton Boyer finishes
Rookie Matt Avenetti
Jake Ponton
Bobby Thompson
Jacob Caddick heads out for his last mile
The 17th-ranked Wabash College cross country captured the men’s team title at the 50th Annual Wabash Hokum Karem by taking four of the top-eight spots in the final standings.
Wabash originated the Hokum Karem-style cross country race, which features pairs of runners alternating one-mile loops through the Wabash campus for a total of six miles. And for the first time in the race’s history, soaking rain — the remnants of Hurricane Isaac — saturated the course.
The University of Indianapolis tandem of Alex Cushman and Ben McMillan took first in 28:17, just 10 seconds off the Hokum Karem record time of 28:07 set in 2003. However, Wabash took the next two positions and also claimed sixth and eighth place.
The top three pairs of runners figure in the overall team scoring. The Little Giants finished with 11 points to take the team title, just ahead of Indianapolis, which took second with 14 points. DePauw, Aurora, and Huntington rounded out the top five in the eight-team competition.
Pacing the Little Giants were senior Jake Waterman and sophomore Shane Hoerbert, who finished second in 28:22. Sophomores Billy McManus and Nick Boyce combined to finish third in 28:35.
“I’m happy that we won the team title today, but I’m also a little disappointed in how we finished,” said seventh-year coach Roger Busch. “We’re very young and we will continue to work on finishing races. I think we could have done a better job running with the lead and finishing to our potential.”
Wabash showed off its depth with pairs taking sixth and eighth. Daniel Hoover and Ryan Horner were sixth in 29:42, while Sean Lewis and Cole Hruskovich took eighth in 29:49. Jacob Caddick and Dalton Boyer finished in 11th place.
“I’m pleased with our team depth — putting so many pairs in the top-20 of a big race like this,” Busch said. “Now I’ll be looking for some of those guys to work a little harder and challenge to be part of our top seven when we run at Intercollegiates in two weeks. Having depth is great, but we need those guys to step up and compete for the top spots in our lineup.”
Wabash will have next weekend off before competing at the Indiana Intercollegiate championship, which will be hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.