Senior All-American Johnnie Guy (Palmyra, Indiana) captured his third consecutive conference title to lead the No. 6 University of Southern Indiana men’s cross country team to its league-record 11th straight Great Lakes Valley Conference championship Saturday at the GLVC Championships.
Guy dominated the race, finishing nearly 30 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher with his eight-kilometer time of 24 minutes, 34.40 seconds. University of Indianapolis senior All-American Alex Cushman was second with a time of 25:04.30.
USI needed Guy’s finish as well as the top-10 efforts from juniors Noah Lutz (Evansville, Indiana) and Chase Broughton (Marengo, Indiana). Lutz finished fourth with a time of 25:18.40, while Broughton crossed the finish line in eighth-place with a time of 25:54.10.
As a team, the Screaming Eagles held off the host and No. 15-ranked University of Wisconsin-Parkside Rangers by the narrowest of margins. USI finished with 41 points, while the Rangers were two behind with 43 points. Bellarmine was third with 90 points.
The Eagles, who claimed their 12th GLVC title in the last 13 years and their league-record 23rd overall, received a 12th-place finish from junior All-American Josh Guy (Palmyra, Indiana) as well as a 16th-place effort from senior All-American Tyler Schickel (Poseyville, Indiana).
Josh Guy joined twin brother Johnnie Guy, Lutz, and Broughton in earning All-GLVC accolades, while Schickel was less than four seconds out of 15th-place and an All-GLVC award.
Johnnie Guy was named the GLVC Runner of the Year for the third straight season, while Head Coach Mike Hillyard added two more GLVC Coach of the Year accolades to his resume with the men’s and women’s championships—Hillyard is now a combined 22-time GLVC Coach of the Year.
Guy joins USI and GLVC Hall of Famer James Nolan (1980-83) and Drury University’s Jaime Villa Zapatero (2008-10) as the only men’s runners in league history to capture three GLVC individual cross country championships. Guy’s finish marks the league-record fifth straight year that USI has had the individual champion.
Sophomores Jesse Stanley (Chandler, Indiana) and Cain Parker (Petersburg, Indiana) finished 20th and 21st, respectively, to round out the Eagles’ top seven, while freshman Darin Lawrence (Indianapolis, Indiana) was 22nd.
Lawrence was named the GLVC Freshman of the Year for his efforts. He is seventh GLVC Freshman of the Year for the USI men’s cross country team and the first since Lutz earned the honor in 2013.
USI returns to action November 7 when it hosts the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Championships at Angel Mounds.
