GENEVA, Ill.. - The Kalamazoo College men's cross country team began its 2023 season at the Aurora Invite on Saturday (Sept. 9) at the Northwestern Medicine XC Course. The Hornets finished in third place out of nine teams with 87 points.
In front of Kalamazoo was Wheaton (25 points), who won the race, and the host Aurora (55 points). Rounding out the top five was Albion (108 points) and DuPage (123 points).
The Hornets were led by a pair of newcomers, Rob Kloosterman and Miles Buckley. Transferring into Kalamazoo from Aquinas, Kloosterman finished ninth in his first race as a Hornet with a time of 28:33. Buckley was not far behind after crossing the finish line at 28:41 in his first collegiate race of his career.
Noah Eckenroth returned as one of Kalamazoo's top runners from last season and ran a 28:58 in his first race this season, which was good for 18th. Senior Patrick Dunfee grabbed a top-20 spot after finishing 20th with a time of 29:14. Will Thomas ran a 29:33 and came in 27th. Kyle Ackerson and Levi Thomas round out the scoring for Kalamazoo as Ackerson had a time of 29:42 and Thomas finished in 30:02. The teammates came in 37th and 40th, respectively.
Also running for the Hornets were Garrick Hohm (30:26), Keegan Reynolds (30:53), Caleb Ewald (31:57), and Gerardo Herrera-Sanchez (32:44).
"The men were aggressive from the start and really took things out well," said Head Coach Kyle Morrison. "We led at the 4K and faded a bit late, which was an opportunity to learn but also signs of a hungry team. We've put in some challenging work in the last couple of weeks, so give it six to seven weeks, and this team will surprise some people. Today was a solid season opener on a tough course; very proud of the guys."
Kalamazoo will head back to Illinois on Saturday (Sept. 16) to run in the Wheaton Gil Dodds Invite at the St. James Farm Forest Preserve in Warrenville, Ill.