Phil Hostetl er definitely improved. Going from 12th place in last year's meet to second place thi s year, he paced the harri ers to their seventh consecutive AIC crown and fifth straight District 17 championship during the meet held at Arkansas Tech Uni versity at Russellville November fourth . "We run for the glory of God and the glory of our schooL" [Marshall Grate 1 The lone junior on the squad, Hostetler took second with a time of 25:47 over the five-mile course, finishing just six seconds behind Mark Segovis of UCA. For four and Y. miles, it was a two-man race between Hostetl er and Segovis. "During the last quarter of a mile, I lost my concentrat ion and began to think of the hurt that was inside me rather than beating Segovis, " Hostetler said . At that point, Segovis pulled out in front to take the victory. " I was real pleased with the way I ran in the AIC meet," Hostetler added . " I had been prepari ng for this race for several weeks and it went just as I expected." Head Coach Ted Lloyd had high praise for Hostetl er saying that Phil did an "outstanding job." The harriers pl aced all seven of their runners in the top 12 positions, finishing with 26 points. Arkansas Tech was a distant second with 83 points. Matt Grate came in third , John Sills .fifth , Marshall Grate seventh , Jimmy McLain ninth , Mark Williams 11th, and Dave Edwards finished 12th. The top ten runners in the meet qualified for all -AIC honors. Coach Lloyd said thi s year's team pl aced the highest in Harding's cross country history. "We really dominated the race from the beginning. We ran well and had all of our men in before any team had their second runner in." The harriers, compet ing in the NAIA meet November 19th at the University of Wisconsin Parkside at Kenosha, Wisconsin , finished 19th . It was their second best finish ever and the first time to crack the top 20 since the 1973 season . "Our boys did a fine job and we feel we've made an important breakthrough," said Coach Lloyd. " It was one of the largest meet s we've had with 56 teams and more than 450 runners. " Phil Hostetler again came in first for the harr iers, finishing in 46th position. John Sills came in second for the Bisons in 78th position . Coach Lloyd stressed attitude as the ingred ient behind the successful season. "The boys on the team were real close-knit. They worked together and had fun running with each other. " He also said the squad ran 30" per cen t more mileage than the squad did the year before. Marshall Grate served as captain for this year's team and was in part responsi ble for the attitude of the team . In a chapel program, Grate said the team runs " for the glory of God and the glory of our schoo!." "Marshall is an excellent and very unselfish runner," said Coach Lloyd. "Whenever his brother or some other runner placed higher than he did, he prai sed them rather than be jealous." In retrospect, Coach Lloyd said he had only one problem with this year's team : "Determining who the top seven runners were each week, " Cross Country • 199
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