GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Point Park University men's cross country took on the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge on Saturday, Oct. 21 for its final pre-conference tuneup. Running in the fast race with many NAIA Top 25 nationally ranked teams, the Pioneers placed 23rd of 27 schools in the Maroon Race. 

Point Park posted a strong team average of 26 minutes, 59 seconds across the five miles (8,000 meters). The Pioneers got their team average under 27 minutes thanks to three individuals under that mark. Jannik Windelbad led the way running 26:09 to get within the front part of a race that had 243 runners competing. Windelband carried a pace of 5:15 per mile. 

Ramiro Ulunque was next for Point Park running a career-best 26:38 for the junior from Bolivia. Luke McKenna ran 26:43 to also get within the top half of the field. 

Joshua Gosselin came in at 27:04 to be just outside the 27-minute mark. John Dyar (28:23) and Gabe Ebersole (28:32) finished three placements within each other and rounded out the Pioneers top five. That gave Point Park a split of 1:54 for its scorers. Elijah James ran 29:11 as the final Point Park competitor in that race. 

There were 15 schools ranked in the NAIA Top 25 that ran the Maroon Race. That included No. 11 Shawnee State (Ohio) taking sixth and (RV) IU East placing 10th from the RSC. IU Kokomo placed 20th as another RSC school. The conference had Ohio Christian, Oakland City (Ind.) and IUPUC competing in the White Race. 

The Pioneers had individual runners competing in the White Race with mainly those being from its 800-meter group in track and field. Three of those runners established cross country PRs with Emmanuel Akpoli (30:54), Kanye Mills (32:10) and Kodi Quimby (32:37) being in that company. 

Next up is the River States Conference Championship Nov. 4 at Midway (Ky.). The championship team and qualifying individuals will advance to the NAIA National Championship.