BLOOMINGTON – A wet, soggy surface was not enough to hamper the Grace College cross country team on Friday at the Indiana Intercollegiates.

Grace waited out a major storm, which delayed the race, and finished eighth in the women’s race and 11th in the men’s.

Raven Arellano earned the spotlight for Grace, placing sixth in the small college division at 20:10. Her finish was Grace’s highest since MariJean Wegert in 2010. She was also the fastest NAIA runner in the meet by over 18 seconds.

Ben Rankin just missed the top-20 awards with a 22nd-place showing in the men’s race at 27:49.

Freshman Brooke Smith was second for the Lady Lancers in a time of 21:47, and McCallah Mast was six seconds behind her. Brigit Nemitz, Jessica Zvers, Liz Fox and Karla Singer made up Grace’s top seven.

On the men’s side, Nathan Lane in 28:38 and Joel Bertelsen in 28:46 made for a strong duo, and Tyler Houvener and Hunter Reed were seven seconds apart as Grace’s fourth and fifth runners. 

Sophomores Brendan Hamilton and Sam Hall completed the Lancers’ top seven.

“There was a major storm that delayed the race and made the course muddy and slow,” said Grace head coach Jeff Raymond. “Despite those conditions I thought we competed fairly well. It’s a great learning experience competing at this meet.”

The Lancers will travel to Rock Island, Ill., next weekend for the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational.