Peregrines Continue to Rewrite Record Book at Grace College Invite

PUC-PeregrinsThe Purdue University Calumet men’s cross country continued to rewrite the school record book in the Peregrines’ fourth-place finish at Saturday’s Lancer Invitational hosted by Grace College.

A week after setting a new school record, sophomore Alex Cordova (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) set the second-best time in school history with his 27-minute flat time in to place 9th overall in Saturday’s 8-kilometer race. Cousin and freshman teammate Salvador Cordova (Hammond, Ind./Bishop Noll) continued his trek up the program Top-10 list, setting a new personal record by 40 seconds to run the fourth-best time in school history with a 27:05 to place 12th overall.

In all, four Peregrine runners set new personal records, including freshman Roger Jachna (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central) with a 28:46 (32nd) and junior Michael Buckman (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) who ran a 29:34 to place 40th overall in the field of 73. Buckman’s time improved upon his previous best by almost a minute.

Sophomore Justin Peterson (Grant Park, Ill.) also broke the 30-minute mark, running a time of 29:50 to place 42nd.

Trine University won the men’s team title with 41 points, host Grace was second (61 points) and Huntington (76 points) was third to edge the Peregrines, who finished with 91 points.

The Peregrines return to action Friday when they travel to Mishawaka, Ind., for the Bethel College Invitational.

PURDUE CALUMET (91): 9, Alex Cordova, 27:00; 12, Salvador Cordova, 27:05; 32, Roger Jachna, 28:46; 40, Michael Buckman, 29:34; 42, Justin Peterson, 29:50; 55, Stephen Bajzatt, 30:41; 57, Kenneth Karrson, 30:48; 62, Fernando Pina, 32:02; 65, Arturo Ruiz, 32:18; 69, Cody Porter, 32:51.