2008 OAC Cross Country Season Kicks Off!

This weekend marked the start of the 2008 OAC cross country season with eight of the ten conference schools competing.

Junior Devin Butcher of #16 Heidelberg opened his season on a positive note leading the way for the Student Princes at the unscored Tiffin/Heidelberg Invitational 8k placing 2nd overall in 26:04 to Tiffin University's Jason Bumb, while freshman Jordan Karnes won the 5k in 16:44.

#31 Mount Union was lead by junior Dan Whistler who finished 3rd overall at Buffalo State's Walker Invite with a time of 26:31. Mount finished just behind #18 SUNY Geneseo in 2nd place.

Baldwin-Wallace and John Carroll each competed at the Bill Sudeck Invitational hosted by #24 Case Western Reserve. 2008 OAC Outdoor 5k champion Derek Hill lead the way for the Yellow Jackets finishing 4th overall in 26:54. B-W finished third of eight schools. The Blue Streaks were lead by senior Nick Habursky and featured nine freshman among the 13 runners on their roster. Case edged #14 Allegheny 28-42 for the team win.

Meanwhile Wilmington freshman Pat Carroll had an impressive opening to his collegiate career at the six-team Sodexho Grizzly Invitational as the Quakers second man finishing 9th overall in 28:03. Junior Brad Orr lead the way for Wilmington finishing fifth in 27:43. Wilmington finished just behind host Franklin College in 2nd.

Marietta competed in their Alumni Race and were lead by juniors Josh Mickle and Mike Siringer who ran the 6k course in 20:57 and 21:08, respectively.

Otterbein competed in their annual Alumni Race Friday evening but results have yet to be posted. Muskingum runs their own Alumni Race today.

#9 Ohio Northern and Capital each had the weekend off. Northern will begin their defense of the OAC title next weekend at the Hanover Invitational while Capital will begin their season September 13th at the Marietta Invitational.