OAC Championships

Its has been a few weeks so I just wanted to give a quick recap of the indoor championships.

Right now, Alan Bowsher is proving even with graduation nearing ONU will be tough next year by proving he is one of the top runners in the conference right now. In the 3k, it appeared Chase Schneider had made the right move to break the field only to be kicked down in the final meters by Alan(8:50). Then Alan came back on Saturday and took 2nd to teammate Thomas Adam in the 5k (15:31). Those two performances won him the Distance Runner of the Meet along with his fellow teammate Rachel Smith who won the mile in 5:10 and came back in the 1k and finished 2nd in 3:08, CONGRATS!!!!

Also, I think it would only be appropriate to congratulate those runners who sacrificed for their teams at the conference meet and ran 4 events, which is absolutely amazing at the collegiate level to be competitive at the highest level when others are specializing in one event. Those performers would be Jimmy O'Brien(ONU) and D'Arcy Hlavin(BW). Jimmy was part of one of the greatest finishes I have ever witnessed in winning the DMR, winning the mile, winning the 800, and then came up just a little short of duplicating Friday nights performance anchoring the 2nd place 4x4 team. D'Arcy like Jimmy was on the winning DMR, took 2nd in the mile, took 3td in the 800, and then finished the meet running the 5k and finished 4th in (19:11).

It will be interesting to see if anyone is able to step up and compete with ONU's depth on the men's side during the outdoor season. On the women's side, it appears it will continue to be a dog fight.

Getting Tuned up for OAC

It appeared this past weekend was utilized for individuals to run some off events and still qualify for conference. This past weekend was used to improve some marks for some and a last chance opportunity for some other to sneak in. I know it is only the second year I think for the 3k, but I think this standard is entirely too soft and hopefully next year the bar will be set a little higher. With two weeks left to qualify there are already 23 people qualified. Looking at results from this past weekend it appears some of the 800 guys are switching the the 1k to get to conference. There really isn't anything else to say for another week until the meet.

OAC Relays

It might have been cold outside, but that did not seem to be the case indoors on Saturday. ONU seemed to have the class of the field at this point of the season when it comes to distance running. Not only are their top runners doing well but their depth can be somewhat discouraging to the competition right now.

Some noteworthy performance came right at the beginning of the meet in the 5000m race. On the women's side ONU took the top three spots with Regina Bresson, Kelly Casanova, Mallory Bloom running 18:57, 19:02, and 19:05 respectively. Then on the men's side Thomas Adam, OAC Runner of the Week, and Alan Bowsher distanced Devin Butcher of Heidelberg in the final mile running 15:10 and 15:15.

The women's 3000m was won by Mount Union's Heather Stalter in 10:57 just edging out Tricia Doherty and Emily Tillmaand from John Carroll who ran 11:01 and 11:02. On the men's side Kevin Stack and Nick Baker ran a smart race coming from behind in the final laps to finish off another 1-2 punch for ONU in 9:00 and 9:03.

Due to the relay style of the meet the 3k and 5k were the only distance race contested other than the 4x8 and DMR.

Noteable Performances from weekend

Performances of notes at the Findlay meet, which I witnessed were Jimmy O continuing to run fast as expected running 4:17 in the mile uncontested, an unknown no more Freshman Dan Smith of ONU kicking down Berg's Jamie Martin to run 4:26 and Thomas Adams running 8:53 in what looked to me to be a controlled negative split 3k in a practice type atmosphere of ONU entrants in the race. Not to show a bias to the men in the OAC, Rachel Smith of ONU looked strong early in the season running 5:17 in the mile as did Amy Davis who hit the A standard in the 800 in 2:28.

At the BW meet Ty Griffin looked to be the athlete of the meet winning the mile in 4:21 just edging out Nate Bowen at 4:22 and then finishing off the double with a B standard in the 1k in 2:39. Dustin Ford also looked to have a nice race in the 3k finishing 2nd in 8:58. On the women's side there were a bunch of conference qualifiers. Leading the way were 3 qualifiers in the 3k Krysten Kovach, Karin Coyne (BW), and Rachel Perry (MUC). Also, D'Arcy Hlavin (BW)finished 2nd in the mile in 5:19. Two more qualifiers were Tara Ford (JCU) and D'Arcy Hlavin (BW) hitting the A standard in the 800. Then in the 1k there were to more A standard qualifiers Kimberly Chinn (BW) and Christin Hanley (MUC). Looked to be a great weekend for qualifying on the Women's side at Baldwin Wallace and I would just like to Congratulate D'Arcy on a nice double.

At the Capital meet Abby Ludwig (OC) just missed the A standard in a winning effort of 5:26 in the mile. Then in the 3k Otterbein had two harriors qualify on the Women's side, Andrea Pautsch and Shaylyn Webster. On the Men's side freshman Tim Williard qualified in 9:00 in the 3k and junior Alex Simko dropped down and won the 300 in 37.6.

For more results check out the link http://www.oac.org/MENtrackinScores.shtml

OAC Distance is Back

Just wanted to let everyone know I am going to attempt to keep the sight up and running in the absence of Simpson. I don't know if I can maintain the high expectations of Dan Simpson, but I will attempt to keep the sight going as a platform for OAC distance running.

ONU Ranked 13th In Nation Heading into Nationals

news via this article from the USTFCCCA:

The latest Men's Division III National Cross Country poll was released today. Ohio Northern will head to nationals as the 13th ranked team in the nation. Mount Union finds itself in the 23rd spot, while Heidelberg is ranked 28th.

The Great Lakes non-OAC representatives--Calvin and Case Western Reserve--are ranked 4th and 31st, respectfully.

Former Mount harrier Joe Eby's Allegheny squad is 11th while former 'Berg harrier Dan Graber's Centre squad finds itself tied for 16th after upsetting Emory in the South Regional Championships Saturday. Graber is former Centre assistant/current ONU head coach Ryan New's successor in Danville.

OAC Trifecta Headed to Hanover!

For the second time in three years the Ohio Athletic Conference will be represented by three schools at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

#14 Ohio Northern grabbed their second consecutive automatic bid to Nationals after finishing in the top two at yesterday's Great Lakes Regional hosted to perfection by the OAC's Otterbein College. Ohio Northern was just two weeks removed from winning their second OAC cross country title. Northern celebrated the top two overall OAC individuals in the race--Senior's Jim O'Brien and Thomas Adam. Northern's entire top 5 garnered All-Region honors (top 35 individuals)

#22 Mount Union, who finished a close second to ONU at the OAC Championships, picked up where they left off, with an impressive third place showing yesterday. Mount, who was second overall to Case Western at All-Ohio (DIII) earlier in the season and has won several invitationals has put together quite the body of work heading into Saturday's race at Hanover.

Sophomore Ty Griffin and senior Dustin Ford lead Mount with top 10 finishes, coming in just behind OAC Champion Devin Butcher (Heidelberg). Mount's top 4 earned All-Region honors on the day.

Unranked Heidelberg defeated #27 Case Western and #35 Denison en route to their third consecutive NCAA Championship appearance thanks to great front-running by junior's Devin Butcher, Scott Lasch and freshman Jamie Martin. Heidelberg and Calvin were the only teams that could boast placing three individuals inside the top 15 (Calvin actually fit four there).

Recent trends:

This will be Mount's 18th trip in school history and 5th in 8 years,
Heidelberg's 6th overall, 6th in 12 years and third straight,
and Ohio Northern's 3rd overall and third straight.

(more historical info may be found here)

The OAC's History of Bids to NCAA XC Nats:

Otterbein has gone 9 times (last in 1995),
Baldwin-Wallace 8 (last in 1983),
John Carroll 3 (last in 1977),
and Marietta twice (last in 1971).

Looking to Saturday, there seems to be plenty of reason for optimism to the OAC faithful. All three teams show no signs of slowing down heading into Hanover--it could be a historical day for the conference. 2006 was the first time in OAC history that three teams were represented at cross country nationals at the same time. That year Heidelberg finished 20th, Mount Union was 24th and Ohio Northern was 32nd. This year it seems very possible that the conference could fit three teams inside the top 25 on a good day.

In terms of individual team success, Ohio Northern certainly has the potential to improve upon last year's 17th overall finish as does Heidelberg on last year's 27th place finish.

The conference also looks to have plenty All-American hopefuls, including Jim O'Brien (2007 All-American), Thomas Adam (6th overall @ Regionals), Devin Butcher (7th @ Regionals, 1st @ OAC), Ty Griffin (8th @ Regionals), Dustin Ford (9th @ Regionals) and several others.


2008 Great Lakes Region Results!

Sunday's NCAA At-Large Announcements!
Five in from the Great Lakes!

Mount Makes a Statement at All-Ohio

#24 Mount Union upset conference rivals #12 Ohio Northern en route to a second place overall finish (DIII) Friday at the 2008 All-Ohio Championships in Delaware.

The Purple Raiders fell short of regional rival #14 Case Western but defeated several other teams ranked within the Great Lakes Region's top 10 including an up-and-coming Denison team.

Baldwin-Wallace showed there could be a new face in the top three at the OAC Championships in three weeks after defeating Heidelberg and Otterbein.

Heidelberg's Devin Butcher continued his impressive form finishing 3rd overall in Division III--the first OAC runner to cross the line.

Overall team results here.

Overall individual results here.

Division III team results here.

Division III individual results here.

Whistler OAC's First Double ROW Winner

from this article via OAC.org:

Mount Union junior Dan Whisler (Ashland) finished 13th among 230 runners at the Hanover Pre-National Meet last week. Whisler completed the 8k course in a time of 26:09.7. The team finished third of 20 teams.

Other nominees: Devin Butcher (HEID)…James Castrillo (OTT)...Eric Stack (ONU)

Results from the weekend

With one month to go until the 2008 OAC Championships in Marietta the first weekend in October saw teams competing everywhere from Salisbury, Maryland to Louisville, Kentucky. Here is a recap of the weekend action -

B-W : Took the weekend off to rest up for next weekends All-Ohio Championships in Delaware.

Capital : Also took the weekend off to rest of for next weekends All-Ohio Championships in Delaware.

H-Berg : Heidelberg was in South Bend competing in the very competitive Notre Dame Invitational. The Gold Race (D2, D3, and small D1 schools) was won by North Central (# 7 in latest USTFCCCA DIII Poll) followed by Grand Valley State (# 10 in DII Poll) with Stevens Point (# 4) and Calvin (# 2) finishing 3rd and 4th. Heidelberg was led by Junior Devin Butcher who continues to show his leadership capabilities this year. Click here for the Heidelberg release.

JCU : John Carroll ran in the Great Lakes Long and Short Course Championships hosted by Adrian College in Michigan. I'm kind of confused by this event but apparently there is a 5k and an 8k and the combined score of the two events are used to determine the winner. Calvin (# 2) won the meet while JCU was led by Senior Daniel Diruzza who ran a 28:05 to place 15th in the 8k. The full John Carroll release can be found here.

Marietta : The Pioneers traveled over to Salisbury Maryland (home of ex-Heidelberg coach Kevin Lucas) for the Don Cathcart Invitational. East Stroudsburg University won the meet with 46 points while Marietta finished 7th with 181 points. They were led by Junior Josh Mickle who finished 8th covering the 8k course in 26:49. The Marietta recap can be found here.

MTU : Mount Union got a preview of the 2008 Nationals course as they traveled to Hanover Indiana for the pre-national meet. The 23rd ranked purple raiders finished 3rd to Allegheny (# 17) and Trinity (# 30). Junior Dan Whisler and Senior Dustin Ford ran impressive races finishing 13th and 14th respectively in a time of 26:09. The 1-5 split of Mount Union was 43 seconds. At the time this article was written the Mount Union website did not have a recap on the race.

Muskingum : The Fighting Muskies also rested up this weekend.

ONU : Ohio Northern sat out their top guys while the rest of the team ran at the Earlham Invite. The Ohio Northern website did not have a recap of the race when this article was written.

Otterbein : The Cardinals of Westerville also ran at Earlham on Saturday. Unlike ONU however they ran their top guys. Otterbein finished second to Rose-Hulman (32-35) but had a very impressive pack with a 1-3 split of 11 seconds, a 1-5 split of 21 seconds and a 1-7 split of 44 seconds. If Otterbein can keep that pack together but get just a little faster they can really surprise some people in the post season. The Otterbein website did not have a recap of the race at the time this article was written.

Wilmington : Junior Austin Stiles continued to impress this season leading the way for the Quacker team in the Greater Louisville Classic. Stiles finished 25th in the Blue race with a time of 26:31 as the team finished 5th with 195 points. A recap of the race from the Wilmington website can be found here.


Well there is your OACDistance.com recap of the action this weekend. I'll give the best performance of the weekend to Heidelberg Junior Devin Butcher who finished 20th at the Notre Dame Invite with a time of 25:27. The best team performance of the weekend goes to Otterbein for their awesome pack running at the Earlham Invite.

Next Friday, in my opinion, is when season really begins. The All-Ohio Chamipionships in Delaware will be our first look at exactly how the teams stack up against not only each other but the rest the schools in Ohio.

Devin Butcher Earns Week 5 ROW/Site Apologies

from this article via the new look OAC.org:

Heidelberg junior Devin Butcher (Bowling Green) finished third among 140 runners at the Otterbein Invitational last week. Butcher completed the 8k course in a time of 25:11.7. The team finished sixth of 21 teams.

Other nominees: Derek Hill (B-W)…Josh Mickle (MAR)…Dan Whisler (MTU)

More news coming soon on the two previous(ly missed) weeks of OAC action, including Mount's dominate performance this past weekend at Otterbein, Northern's battle with Case and Calvin the week prior and the 'Berg's major slip in the regional rankings (from 4th to 8th).

All this as well as updates concerning Fantasy OAC XC, the incredibly late Dominic Smith (Case) interview and more!

Sorry things have been slacking! It's been an incredibly exciting season thus far and you loyal OAC running fans out there deserve better coverage.

Also, stay tuned for Monday's unveiling of YSU junior Justin Dickman's "Running with the Penguins" teaser via his OAC Distance blog, Opinion of Penguin.

ONU's Bowsher, Earns Week 4's 'ROW'

from this article via OAC.org:

Ohio Northern junior Alan Bowsher (Cygnet/Elmwood) finished 14th among 187 runners at the Calvin Select Meet last week. Bowsher completed the 8k course in a time of 26: 04. The team finished third of 11 teams.


Other nominees: Austin Stiles (WILM)…Chris Fyock (OTT)