The Lake Forest College cross country teams competed in the 2025 Midwest Conference Championship Meet in Mount Vernon on Saturday. The Forester women finished fifth for the third year in a row while the men were ninth.

All 21 of the Foresters who competed on Saturday turned in their fastest times of the year and the vast majority of the performances were career bests.

The team's top individual finish came from sophomore Owen Lashenik in the men's 8-kilometer race. He was 13th in the field of 111 finishers and his time of 26:04.8 was the fastest of his career by nearly a minute and ranks 11th in program history.

The top 20 runners in each race earned All-MWC honors and a pair of Lake Forest women joined Lashenik in that accomplishment. Junior Lettia Hoda completed the 6-kilometer course Seminole Valley Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with a program record time of 22:26.9. Classmate Sophie Graham was 20th and her career-best time of 22:50.2 ranks seventh in team annals. It was Graham's third all-conference performance and Hoda's second in the last three years.

Sophomore Demos Manoukis was the second runner for the Forester men, placing 42nd overall in 27:26.8. Junior Austin Hewes was also in the top half of the field, finishing 53rd in 27:46.4. Freshman Oliver Gumerson (28:42.0) and senior Ali Faiz (28:54.7) rounded out the team's top five.

Lawrence won the men's team competition with just 34 points, 28 fewer than runner-up Grinnell College. The Foresters were within 20 points of the three teams above them in the standings.

Contributing to the women's team score were sophomores Liya N'Daye (49th in 24:45.5) and Stella Abernathy (68th, 26:29.6) and senior Jacquelyn Han (70th, 26:40.7).

Grinnell won the women's race with 40 points while host Cornell College was second with 51. By just two points, Lake Forest edged out Monmouth College for fifth place with a total of 168.

The Foresters will close out the season at the NCAA Division III Midwest Region Championships in Waverly, Iowa, on November 15.