The Mount Vernon Nazarene
University men’s and women’s cross country
teams finished strong on a difficult muddy
course as the Cougars finished 30th out of
38 teams and the Lady Cougars were 34th out
of 42 teams at the All-Ohio Invitational on
Friday in a race that covered the grounds of
the Methodist Theological School and the
Delaware Golf Club.“The All-Ohio race is
one of the most exciting events that we look
forward to every season,” said MVNU coach
Chip Wilson. “It is a very unique race in
that every college in Ohio is invited and
almost all take part in this event. It also
give the MVNU runners and opportunity to run
against some of their former high school
teammates and get reacquainted. Even though
it was a wet day on a tough course, it was a
great experience that our runners will
remember.”
In
the men’s race, The Ohio State University
placed five runners in the top 10 to finish
with 28 points to easily beat out NAIA No. 1
Malone University (76 points). NAIA No. 9
Shawnee State University was third with 94
points, the University of Cincinnati came in
fourth with 114 points, and Ohio Northern
University was fifth with 230 points. Five
other NCAA Division I teams were in the
race, and the Cougars finished with 856
points in 30th place - up one spot from the
previous year.
Jeff See of Ohio State won the individual
title as he covered the eight-kilometer
course in 26:07.9 to finish more than 11
seconds ahead of runner-up Eric Finan from
Cincinnati (26:19.3). Senior Mark Porostosky
(left) finished 58th out of
269 runners in 28:05.2 to lead MVNU.
Sophomore Nate Winters (28:59.5, 122nd),
freshman Anthony Lee (31:50.0, 224th),
senior Dustin Wine (32:01.4, 227th),
sophomore Jameson Seymour (32:05.2, 228th),
senior Kenny Alexander (32:26.2, 234th), and
junior David Clark (33:39.1, 249th) rounded
out the scoring for the Cougars. Freshmen
Mark Rednour (34:58.2) and Jacob Pessia
(36:50.3) also competed in the open race.
In the women’s race, Ohio State completed
a sweep by scoring 58 points to edge out
runner-up Miami University (75 points). The
University of Akron was third with 116
points, Cincinnati was fourth with 169
points, and NAIA No. 7 Malone was fifth with
217 points. Four other NCAA Division I teams
were in the race, and the Lady Cougars
finished with 1,006 points in 34th place -
up four spots from last year.
Jordan Jennewine of Ohio State won the
individual title as she covered the
five-kilometer course in 18:10.3 to finish
just 0.9 seconds ahead of Cedarville’s Katie
Gillespie (18:11.2). Freshman Jessica Brant
was the top finisher for MVNU as she came in
131st out of 285 runners in 21:28.9, which
is a new course record for a Lady Cougar.
Sophomore Caitlin Campbell, who set the old
record last year with a time of 22:43.6,
lowered her own personal best time on the
course as she came in 192nd in a time of
22:27.6. Senior Tara Patrick (22:55.4,
209th), freshman Hannah Fertig (23:24.6,
228th), freshman Melissa Keiser (23:59.5,
246th), sophomore Nikki Yates (25:23.5,
271st), and freshman Bethany Parks (26:00.7,
274th) rounded out the scoring for MVNU.
Sophomore DeAnna Hardeman (27:57.2) and
senior Brittany Click (30:15.2) also
competed in the open race.
“This race will pay off for us in the
upcoming weeks,” said Wilson. “I told my
runners today that our times may not be
great on this particular course with the
conditions as they were, but running this
course will help in our training process. We
are working toward our postseason races and
this race is another step in reaching our
goals.”
After a week off without a race, both
MVNU teams will be back in action at the
Wilmington College Invitational on October
16 with the women’s race slated to start at
4:30 p.m. and the men’s race to follow at
5:15 p.m.