"This race is always an exciting event because it involves almost every college in Ohio and many of these athletes have an opportunity to run against former high school teammates or rivals,” said MVNU coach Chip Wilson. "We prepared for two weeks to run this challenging course, and I think our runners performed well against solid competition. For our freshmen runners, it was a new experience to be a part of something as unique as this race. Many of them had watched as high school runners, but it is a different feeling actually being involved in the race.”

In the men’s race, NAIA No. 1 Malone College won the 42-team event with 68 points to edge out NCAA Division I University of Cincinnati (84 points) and The Ohio State University (101 points). Eight other NCAA Division I teams were in the race and the Cougars finished with 857 points in 31st place.

Nik Schweikert of Malone won the individual title as he covered the eight-kilometer course in 25:18.2 to finish more than 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Mike Andersen of the University of Dayton (25:33.7). Junior Mark Porostosky finished 68th out of 280 runners in 27:07.5 to lead MVNU as he covered the challenging course in the fastest time by a Cougar so far. Freshman Nate Winters (28:31.5, 151st), freshman Blake Heinlen (29:19.6, 185th), sophomore Zach Stiverson (30:07.5, 215th), sophomore David Clark (31:22.4, 238th), and junior Dustin Wine (33:47.0, 257th) rounded out the scoring for MVNU.

"The men’s team ran hard today,” said Wilson. "I watched them all have strong finishes, which should encourage them for future races. We do not come to this race expecting to have our best times because the course is not designed to be fast. However, all the guys posted very competitive times and we have something to build on for next week at Wilmington College. I was very impressed with the determination I saw from all the guys today, and Mark ran one of the strongest races I have ever seen him run. I am excited about the upcoming races at Wilmington and the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge hosted by Aquinas (Mich.) College.

In the women’s race, NAIA No. 1 Cedarville University won the 41-team event with 74 points to edge out Cincinnati (96 points), Bowling Green State University (128 points), and Ohio University (132 points). Eight other NCAA Division I teams were in the race and the Lady Cougars finished with 1,194 points in 38th place.

Lilian Jelimo won the individual title as she covered the five-kilometer course in 17:45.7 to finish nearly 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Kari Summers of Ohio (18:01.4). Freshman Caitlin Campbell (above) was the top finisher for MVNU as she came in 213th out of 288 runners in a time of 22:43.6, which is a new course record for a Lady Cougar. Freshman Heidi Raidel (23:50.8, 231st), freshman Katelyn Felger (24:20.6, 242nd), sophomore Ashley Morse (24:56.2, 249th), freshman Lauren Ford (25:59.1, 259th), freshman Nikki Yates (29:13.8, 268th), and junior Brittany Click (32.14.8, 273rd) rounded out the lineup for MVNU.

"This was the first time that most of our girls have run a course designed to be this challenging,” said Wilson. "Brittany was the only female runner who had experience on this course, and it was overwhelming for some at first to look at the layout of the course design. However, all the girls challenged themselves to run this course well and make improvements in their racing. They prepared well for this race and it was encouraging to watch them work through the pain and all have strong finishes. We still have some areas to work on to prepare for our conference race, but we are moving in the right direction.”

Both MVNU teams will be back in action at the Wilmington College Invitational on Friday with the women’s race slated to start at 4:30 p.m. and the men’s race to follow.