All-Ohio Cross Country Meet

            Wind gusts of 30 miles per hour were no match for the Urbana University Cross Country teams, who had nine runners post season-best times at Friday’s All-Ohio Meet.

As soon as the team stepped on to the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course, they knew that they were going to have a vastly different race from the season’s past races. The wind was howling and the charter busses kept rolling in as the Blue Knights made their way to the start line. 47 different teams fielding 652 men and 592 women were about to participate in the All-Ohio meet, marking the largest number of runners that Urbana University would compete against over the last three years.

While this crowded field of runners came with some challenges, it also came with some benefits. Junior Blue Knight runner Mason Dail said, “The large number of runners was actually beneficial for me. In a lot of the smaller races, you will often find yourself separated from a pack of runners, which means you don’t have anybody to push you or to try to catch up to. This wasn’t an issue for me at the All-Ohio Championships because I always had at least ten runners within five feet of me at any point in the race, which helped me to run my fastest time of the year.”

 Dail’s reasoning explains how four of Urbana University’s five men runners posted season-best times. Dail finished 103^rd with a time of 28:20, followed by freshman Cole Butz who finished 143^rd with a time of 30:22. Next for the team was freshman Joe Brown who finished 160^th with a time of 31:57, followed by sophomore Chris Freeman who finished 171^st with a time of 33:46. Rounding out the top five for the Blue Knights was Matt Wilt who finished 174^th with a time of 34:31, which was seven seconds off of his personal-record.

            While the women’s six kilometer race had less competitors than the men’s race, the women had to face the added factor of rainfall during their competition. The rain started to fall a few minutes before the women’s race, which started shortly after the men’s race concluded. Fortunately, the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course was fully capable to withstand the number of runners and the weather. as the ground remained firm throughout the event. This allowed all of the participating Urbana University women runners to post season-best times.

            Leading the Blue Knight Women was junior Jenna Hooks who finished 75^th with a time of 25:30, followed by junior Nikki Holthaus who finished 90^th with a time of 26:14. Next for the team was junior Brittany Atkinson who finished 93^rd with a time of 26:26, followed by sophomore Alyssa Strickland who finished 104^th with a time of 26:49. Rounding out the top five for the Blue Knights was freshman Ashley Long who finished 108^th with a time of 27:01.

Official Men’s Race Results: http://yellowjackets.cedarville.edu/documents/2015/10/2//MXCAllOhio_DIINAIA.pdf?id=979

Official Women’s Race Results:

http://yellowjackets.cedarville.edu/documents/2015/10/2//WXCAllOhio_DIINAIA.pdf?id=984

              - Oct. 22, 2015