In the men’s race, Denison University won the 23-team event with 60 points to just edge out Centre (Ky.) College (63 points). The University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) was third with 124 points, while Rose Hulman Institute (Ind.) was fourth at 137 points. MVNU finished with 297 points in 12th place.

David Mutuse of Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) College won the individual title as he covered the eight-kilometer course in 24:46.6 to finish nearly 13 seconds ahead of runner-up Makorobo Salukombo of Denison (24:59.4). Junior Mark Porostosky (left) finished 14th out of 238 runners in a school-record time of 26:00.4 to break his own school record of 26:11.5 set last year on the same course. Freshman Nate Winters (26:52.6, 44th), freshman Blake Heinlen (27:56.2, 77th), sophomore Zach Stiverson (28:08.9, 90th), sophomore David Clark (29:10.0, 126th), freshman Jameson Seymour (29:41.8, 143rd), and junior Dustin Wine (31:34.6, 185th) rounded out the scoring for MVNU with Winters, Stiverson, Clark, and Seymour each posting new personal bests and Wine turning in a season-best time.

“The men’s team challenged each other this past week to have their best performance of the year,” said MVNU coach Chip Wilson. “After seeing their finishing times, it was their best team performance of the year. We saw five personal best times including a new school record by Mark. These last few weeks look to be an exciting time for these guys.”

In the women’s race, John Carroll University won the 24-team event with 71 points to edge out Wittenberg University (85 points) and Wheeling Jesuit University (109 points). The Lady Cougars finished with 412 points in 17th-place and were only three points away from being in a tie for 15th place as Berea (Ky.) College (409 points) and Thomas More (Ky.) College (411 points) were just in front of them.

Katie Navarre of Denison won the individual title as she covered the five-kilometer course in 18:23.1 to finish over 21 seconds ahead of runner-up Sarah Campanelli of Wheeling Jesuit (18:54.5). Freshman Caitlin Campbell was the top finisher for MVNU as she came in 62nd out of 210 runners in a time of 21:18.1, which was a new personal best for her and only seven seconds off the school record set by Lauren Hall in 2006. Freshman Katelyn Felger (22:00.2, 84th), freshman Heidi Raidel (22:06.9, 87th), sophomore Ashley Morse (23:33.2, 134th), freshman Lauren Ford (23:38.9, 142nd), freshman Nikki Yates (25:15.8, 169th), freshman DeAnna Hardeman (25:55.3, 176th), and junior Brittany Click (29:47.6, 197th) rounded out the lineup for MVNU with Felger, Raidel, Ford, and Morse each posting new personal bests.

“Battling through some injuries, the girls have also challenged each other to lower their times and keep working hard,” said Wilson. “We have been talking about mile splits and where we want to be, and all of these girls were close to the times we had talked about. Each of these girls has a goal in mind, and they are doing their best to reach that goal. I am confident they will reach these goals.”

“The Wilmington meet is the turning point in the season each year,” said Wilson. “The timing of the race is only a few weeks prior to our conference race, and we try to use this as a test to see where we are and what we can improve on in the weeks leading up to the (American Mideast Conference) race. I was excited about the way our men’s and women’s teams performed. We had numerous personal best times on both teams. It is encouraging to see this happening at this point in the season. We still have some things to work on, but we are headed in the right direction.”

Both MVNU teams will be back in action at the Aquinas (Mich.) College Invitational on Saturday with the men’s race slated to start at 11:00 a.m. and the women’s race to follow at noon.