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Delaware, OH – The Bluffton College Beaver’s cross country team competed at the All-Ohio Championships today, on a muggy October afternoon. New course modifications increased the level of difficulty for the runners this year, and it showed in the finishing times. The All-Ohio Championship cross country meet is a meet that involves only Ohio colleges/universities from NCAA Division I, II, III, and the NAIA. The Beaver men improved on last year’s finish in the meet placing 32nd overall and 15th in the Division III race while the women finished 31st overall and 13th in the Division III race.
The women were the first to run at 2:00pm. The squad was led for the first time this year by sophomore Carrie Hudecek. Hudecek utilized a pace strategy which propelled her to 170th place, finishing in 21:35.9 for the 5,000m course. Finishing second for the Bluffton women was Lauren Borga in 21:42.2, good for 179th. Third was Lauren Bailey with another strong outing finishing in 21:50.5 for 187th place. Also scoring for the Beavers were Jennifer Creamer in 22:05.3 for 200th, and Rachel Noirot in 24:05.4, for 246th. Other Beavers competing were Lindsay Bryant (254th/24:41.1) and Alicia Stanko (162nd/26:51.0) in the open race.
Next up were the men who felt the course changes the most. The 5-mile race proved to be the toughest course the men’s team has seen in recent history. Working his way back to the number one spot was junior Andy Schiefer who completed the race in 29:14.4 earning him 150th place, the best finish of his career at the championships. Close behind Schiefer was Dave Espinoza who finished strong completing the course in 29:25.4 for 157th place. Finishing the scoring for the Beavers were Patrick Cooley, who improved on his time last year by two minutes, running a 29:53.1 to earn 181st place. Chris Wojciechowski followed Cooley in 216th place (31:24.5) and then Johnny Ichrist, who finished 221st in a 31:52.9.
“What an extremely difficult course we had this year,” said Head Coach Derek Stanley. “Except for a few set-backs, I’m happy with how the teams ran today. I saw some gutsy performances today. Sometimes it takes a meet like this to put a season into perspective,” Stanley added.
Full results can be found at: http://bishops.owu.edu/alohxc03.html
The Beavers will be in action again Saturday, October 18 at Manchester College in North Manchester, IN. The women run at 11:00am and the men at 11:45am (Indiana time). This will be the teams’ final tune-up before the HCAC Championships.
