The Yellow Jackets complete Siena Heights Invite behind frontrunners Horvath and Fortman

ADRIAN, Mich. - The Defiance College Yellow Jacket men's and women's cross country team competed in the Siena Heights Invitational Friday afternoon at Heritage Park after a week off. Mira Horvath, who has led DC women in every meet this season thus far, topped the leaderboard for the Purple and Gold women, while Elijah Fortman finished first of the men. 

The women, running a 6000-meter course, finished eighth of 13 on 236 points with Horvath finishing in 57th place with a time of 29:54. Close behind, Zawadi Debola completed the race in 59th place with a time of 30:05. To round out the women's course, Amira Knight, Rakel Thompson and Israa Khamis filed in consecutively all within one minute of one another. 

With a time of 33:43 in the men's 8000-meter course, Fortman finished in 88th place — leading the Yellow Jacket men's team for the first time this season. In 91st and in just over 34 minutes, Jake Stephens met Fortman at the finish line, quickly followed by J'Vontae Barnes' time of 34:55, who finished 92nd. Tyjon Mance rounded out the men with a 98th-place finish in 44:07. 

Yellow Jacket cross country has a break until Nov. 1 when they compete in the WHAC XC Championship hosted by Aquinas. 

-JACKETS-