TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Grace College cross country team enjoyed a unique racing experience on Friday evening.

The Lancers raced under the lights at night at the Nike XC Town Twilight.

The women finished second out of eight teams in the race, trailing only NCAA Div. I Western Kentucky. The men grabbed third place.

Cadence Manning paced the ladies with a time of 24:20.30, good for 14th overall in the field. Cassandra Cross was nearly stride-for-stride with Manning, grabbing 15th place less than a second behind Manning (24:21.00).

Heidi Spahr claimed a 23rd-place finish at 24:58.40. The squad's next three runners finished within range of each other, including Addison Johnson (25:36.50), Emma Long (25:46.90) and Harper Scott (26:03.30).

On the men's side, Brady Hunsberger forged in front for Grace with a 24th-place showing of 27:59.10. Caleb Nichols finished second for the Lancers at 28:37.90.

Ty McPhatter (28:52.30) broke 29 minutes, and he was followed up by Matt Urbina nine seconds behind him.

Grace had six other runners finish under 30 minutes, including Alex Pinkleton (29:07.70), Noah Askew (29:07.90), Gavin Sowles (29:11.00), Ian Harrold (29:22.00), Hudson Fisher (29:40.00) and Douglas Dillman (29:47.10).

The men improved as the race went on. At the first mile marker, the squad sat in seventh place. They jumped up to third place, however, by the finish line.

"It was a great night for racing, but it was a very challenging course. We took part of our squad, and our ladies met the challenge with focus and grit; over half of our ladies hit their best times ever," said Grace head coach Brian Dewey. "The men fought well and moved up the entire race. Even as the course rolled on, many of the men continued to put forth the effort to push their bodies through a winding and hilly course."

The Lancers have two races remaining before beginning the postseason. Grace will race at the Ray Bullock Invitational on Oct. 10 and the Great Lakes Challenge on Oct. 25.

MEET RESULTS