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)

Happy 24th Birthday Tom Landis!

It's my site. I can do whatever I want.

Coming Soon: OAC Fantasy Cross Country!

That's right, starting the week of the 54th Annual All-Ohio Championships OAC Distance dot com will unveil the first ever game of OAC Fantasy Cross Country.

10 owners.

70 "signed" athletes.

Three races (All-Ohio, the OAC Championships and the Great Lakes Regional Championships).

One very entertaining way to cover OAC cross country.

More details soon to come!

Finally, the ONU Jukebox

Well, the title of the post is pretty self-explanatory, so I'll leave it at that. Hope you all enjoy it! To this point--though Eby certainly provided some good competition--this was the longest interview I've done. There was something close to an hour and forty minutes of recorded conversation (the majority of the cuts were just me rambling). Thanks to the ONU guys for being such good sports. It gives new meaning to the term "endurance athlete" I guess. In all seriousness, I hope we have more team/group interviews like this in the future.

In other news Case senior Dominic Smith's interview went very well and should be up by mid-week. I'm still putting the finishing touches on Mount alum/Allegheny Assistant Joe Eby's aformentioned full interview and I've yet to interview DePauw alum Dusty Kime (completely my fault) so feel free to still leave your questions for Dusty here if you have some!

Ford Named Week 3 Runner-of-the-Week

via this article from OAC.org:

Mount Union senior Dustin Ford (Canton/Massillion Perry) finished first among 131 runners, while the team took home the title at the Penn State-Behrend Invite last week. Ford covered the 8k course in a time of 27:14.

Other nominees: Devin Butcher of Heidelberg who finished first among a field of 91 runners, while the team took home the title at Marietta's Carl Broughton Invitational. Butcher covered the 8k course in a time of 27:45.

Ford became the second Mount Union Raider to earn Runner-of-the-Week honors after only three weeks of competition of this early 2008 season.

ONU Vid 2, Followed by Complete Series Jukebox

Episode 11, Part 2: ONU Senior Quintet
Uploaded by OAC_Distance

In part two each ONU harrier talks about their favorite memory or memories during their time as a Polar Bear to this point. The order in which they answer is as follows:
Steve Darmon
Jim O'Brien
Paul Lewis
Eric Porter
and finally, Thomas Adam who includes a little shout out to ONU alum Kevin Heckman.

Total runtime: 7 minutes.

Tonight all six ONU Quintet Episodes should be "jukeboxed" and posted to the Cellular Talk Shows page. Episode 12 - the complete Joe Eby interview will be boxed next. Time will tell if it makes tonight's deadline or not.

While Case Western senior Dominic Smith and DePauw alum Dusty Kime should be interviewed within the next few hours, it is very doubtful that their interviews will reach the front page tonight. Watch out for them within the next couple of days.

Week 3 Round Up

Marietta hosted #17 Heidelberg, Otterbein, Capital and Muskingum at Saturday's Carl Broughton Invitational--a preview of the 2008 OAC Championship course.

Though the 'Berg was without junior leader Scott Lasch for the weekend, freshman Jamie Martin (28:20) picked up the slack in his collegiate debut as the Student Prince's second man. Fellow freshman Keith Mrak (28:31) also finished in the top 5 for the 'Berg while junior Devin Butcher (27:45) continued his impressive start to this early season leading Heidelberg with an individual win.

The Otterbein men were lead by senior Chase Schneider (28:46) who was followed closely by a pack that included sophomore's Chris Fyock (29:00) and Matt Dixon (29:01) as well as junior Jim Castrillo (29:10) and freshman Tim Williard (29:11). While the OC finished just behind Heidelberg, the Cardinals boasted an impressive 1-5 pack of approximately 25 seconds on the day.

A much-improved Capital men's squad opened their season impressively, finishing fourth of nine teams. The Crusaders were lead by senior Bryan Deardo (29:36) who finished 16th overall.

Muskingum rounded out the conference schools represented at Marietta's home invite. They were once again lead by freshman Michael Besl (32:07).

#31 Mount Union continued to roll this weekend with a dominating victory at the Penn State-Behrend XC Invitational in Erie, PA. If you thought Otterbein's 25-second scoring pack was impressive, how about a 1-5 with less than a second of separation? That's what happened today as the first six runners to cross the finish line were Purple Raiders harriers. Three-time cross country national qualifier, senior Dustin Ford (27:14) lead the way followed by junior Bryce Basista (27:15), sophomore Tyler Griffin (27:15), Week 1 OAC Runner-of-the Week junior Dan Whistler (27:15) and senior Matt Dieterich (27:15).

The Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets who were apparently without senior Derek Hill were lead by senior Nate Bowen (27:46) at Bowling Green's Mel Brodt Invitational. B-W easily won the DIII dual meet section of the race against Oakland.

The John Carroll men's cross country team continued its upswing as it placed third of four teams at the First Annual Walsh University Ric Sayre Invitational in North Canton, Ohio. John Carroll scored 84 points to finish ahead of Ohio Dominican, which accrued 111. Freshman Jacob Smith led the way for JCU with a 13th place finish in a time of 28:29. Fellow rookie Jeff Sigmund was next in line, placing 14th in 28:34. Seniors Nick Habursky (16th, 28:39) and Dan DiRuzza (23rd, 29:28) along with junior Michael Joseph (26th, 29:56) rounded out the top five for the Blue Streaks.

#9 Ohio Northern and Wilmington were the only inactive OAC teams this weekend. Northern will head to Calvin College on the 20th for a much-anticipated three-way battle between Great Lakes heavyweights #2 Calvin and #16 Case Western Reserve while Wilmington will travel to Cedarville.

DIII Week 2 Poll: Case Moves Big

via this article from USTFCCCA.org:

For the second consecutive week, the Cortland State Red Dragons have been named the top team in Division III men's cross country, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced on Wednesday.

Cortland State begins their quest for an NCAA Championship on September 13th when they travel to Oswego, New York for the Oswego Laker Invitational. The Red Dragons finished third a year ago at the national championships and return all seven runners from that team.

Calvin College moved up two spots coming in at No. 2 this week followed by Wisconsin's La Crosse and Stevens Point at Nos. 3 and 4 respectively. Carnegie Mellon is ranked fifth to complete the top five, which remained unchanged. Spots six through 11 (Williams, North Central, Amherst, Ohio Northern, Augustana (IL), and Haverford) also stayed true to form in this week's poll.

Case Western Reserve made the biggest move in the nation, improving eight spots from 24th to 16th after defeating last week's #14 team Allegheny head-to-head. Case jumped Heidelberg to become the new 3rd seed out of the Great Lakes.

Like ONU, #31 Mount Union remained idle this week.

Both Emory University Whitworth University made debuts this week in the poll; Emory at No. 32 and Whitworth at No. 33.

Complete DIII national rankings may be found here.

This Sunday = New Interviews & Playing Catch-Up

What better way to gear up for September 20th's exciting Calvin v.s. Ohio Northern v.s. Case Western showdown then a little hype?

Coming this Sunday; two great interviews with talented Great Lakes runners: Senior Dominic Smith of #24 Case Western Reserve (51st last year at the '07 NCAA XC Championships) and recent DePauw graduate Dusty Kime (44th @ XC Nat's).

Feel free to contribute any questions you have for either Dominic or Dusty by leaving comments to this article or listing them via this thread on the Historic OAC Forum.

Some of you might be asking, "shouldn't you worry about the rest of the ONU and Joe Eby interviews before starting a new project?" A legitimate question. Rest assured, the 'Northern Quintet,' interviews (as they've been called) as well as the remainder of the Eby interview will finally be up sometime Sunday as well.

New "Opinion of Penguin" Post

Well he's out of the District and back in the Buckeye State ready to start his third collegiate cross country season. Be sure to check out OAC Distance contributor and Youngstown State University harrier, Justin Dickman's newest post on his "Opinion of Penguin" blog.

O'Brien Awarded Week 2 Runner-of-the-Week

via OAC.org:

Ohio Northern senior Jimmy O’Brien (Pemberville/Eastwood) finished seventh among 156 runners at the Hanover Invitational last week. O’Brien completed the 8k course in a time of 26: 33. The team finished third of 13 teams.

Other nominees: Dan Whisler (MTU) who won his first collegiate cross country race leading Mount Union to a team win over John Carroll at Akron's Tommy Evans Invite.

Two week 2 standouts we feel also deserve attention are Baldwin-Wallace seniors Derek Hill and Nate Bowen who lead the Yellow Jackets to a 5th place team finish at Hanover with 4th and 5th place finishes overall.

Great Lakes Update (new top 10)

Official update by Kori Stoffregen, Depauw University

Great Lakes Region Men

"Case Leapfrogs Heidelberg,

Manchester Knocks B-W from Top 10"

1. Calvin

First race is Sept. 20 when they host the Knight Invitational.

2. Ohio Northern

The #9 ranked men’s team finished third at the Hanover Invitational on Sept. 6 to #4 ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point and NCAA Division II Bellarmine, who finished first and second in the team standings, respectively.

Ohio Northern finished with 88 points in the meet, 48 points behind first place and 10 points behind second place.

Top 7 Ohio Northern Finishers at Hanover Invitational:

7. Jimmy O’Brien, 26:33

9. Paul Lewis, 26:36

24. Eric Porter, 27:07

29. Thomas Adam, 27:15

30. Alan Bowsher, 27:15

38. Brent Hiser, 27:33

43. Nick Edmonds, 27:42

1-5 Gap – 42 sec.

1-7 Gap – 1 min., 9 sec.

Next meet: Sept. 20 at Knight Invitational

3. Case Western

#24 ranked Case Western debuted on Aug. 30 with a win at the eight-team Bill Sudeck Classic. They had four runners finish in the top ten and won the Sudeck Classic for the first time since 2003. Case finished ahead of second place #14 ranked Allegheny by 14 pts.

Top 7 Case Western Finishers at Bill Sudeck Classic:

1. Dominic Smith, 26:25

3. Austin Schmidt, 26:51

7. Reza Mohammadpour, 27:10

9. Ryan Gjoraas, 27:21

11. Mike Vaughn, 27:27

14. Michael Werneiwski, 27:42

16. Mike Petro, 27:46

1-5 Gap – 56 sec.

1-7 Gap – 1 min., 21 sec.

Next Meet: Sept. 20 at Knight Invitational

4. Heidelberg

On Aug. 30 the #16 ranked Heidelberg men competed against Tiffin University at home and placed five runners in the top 10.

Top 7 Heidelberg Finishes at Tiffin/Heidelberg Invitational:

2. Devin Butcher, 26:04

5. Jarrod Sailing, 26:46

7. Scott Lasch, 27:02

8. Keith Mrak, 27:07

9. Jake Lemon, 27:08

14. Beau Thompson, 27:58

16. John Gogle, 28:11

1-5 Gap – 1 min., 4 sec.

1-7 Gap – 2 min., 7 sec.

Next Meet: Sept. 13 at Broughton Cross Country Meet in Marietta, OH

5. Mount Union

#31 Mount Union traveled to Akron, Ohio on Sept. 6 to compete at the Tommy Evans Invitational. Four runners placed in the top 10 in the four mile race to lead the Mount Union College men to a first place team finish over Buffalo, Akron, Youngstown State, and John Carroll.

Top 7 Mount Union Finishers: 4 Mile

1. Dan Whisler, 21:00

7. Bryce Basista, 21:14

8. Ty Griffin, 21:17

10. Dustin Ford, 21:21

13. Scott Wolfe, 21:34

14. Matt Dieterich, 21:36

24. Harrison Markel, 22:29

1-5 Gap – 34 sec.

1-7 Gap – 1 min., 29 sec.

Next Meet: Sept. 13 at Penn State Behrend

6. Otterbein

Otterbein held their Alumni Meet on Aug. 29.

Their first meet of the season will occur at Marietta on Sept. 13.

7. Hope

Hope College debuted at the Vanderbilt Invitational on Aug. 30 with a team victory over second place Cornerstone by 22 pts.

Top 7 Hope Finishers at Vanderbilt Invitational:

1. Matt Wiersum, 26:27

2. Rob Bailey, 26:38

5. Seth Weener, 26:46

6. Paul VanderVelde, 26:51

10. Zachary King, 27:22

11. Nathan Love, 27:28

12. Kevin Hagan, 27:31

1-5 Gap – 55 sec.

1-7 Gap – 1 min., 4 sec.

Next Meet: Sept. 13 at GLCA Championships in Oberlin, Ohio

8. Kenyon

Kenyon men finished fourth place at the Queen City Invitational 5k Sept. 6 against several larger schools. Division I University of Cincinnati and Xavier finished first and second, respectively, while Northern Kentucky University, ranked 20th in Division II, finished third.

Top 7 Kenyon Finishers at Queen City Invitational: 5k

10. Jim Boston, 15:55

18. Matt Davis, 16:11

26. Matt Riley, 16:29

27. Kaleb Keyserling, 16:30

37. Pat Meyers, 16:43

39. Clint Kugler, 16:53

41. Clint Houser, 16:57

1-5 Gap – 48 sec.

1-7 Gap – 1 min., 2 sec.

Next Meet: Sept. 20 at Midwest Open

9. DePauw

The DePauw men competed at the 47th Wabash Hokum Karem on Sep. 6. They tied for second place in the team standings with Wabash College scoring 30 points in the 3 x 1 mile paired relay event. Indiana Tech won the team title with 9 points.

Top 3 DePauw Scoring Pairs at Wabash Hokum Karem:

5. Zack Weinberg/Nate Ellis, 29:01

14. Pete Richard/Joe Evans, 29:43

15. Jonathan Cripe/Nick Pucillo, 29:49

Next Meet: Sept. 19 at Indiana Intercollegiates in Bloomington, Indiana

10. Manchester

Manchester College traveled to the Hanover Invitational Sept. 6 and tied for fourth place with Huntington University in a field of 13 teams with 124 points. They finished 36 points behind third place team #9 ranked Ohio Northern.

Top 7 Manchester Finishers at Hanover Invitational:

15. Andy Williams, 26:49

28. Braden Nelson, 27:14

31. Alec Womboldt, 27:15

32. Kyle Pletcher, 27:18

36. James Kearney, 27:31

81. Cole Jackson, 29:00

87. Josh Miller, 29:17

1-5 Gap – 42 sec.

1-7 Gap – 2 min., 28 sec.

Next Meet: Sept. 19 at Indiana Intercollegiates in Bloomington, Indiana

others:

Baldwin-Wallace, Wabash

Week 2 Wrap-Up

#9 Ohio Northern University opened their season Saturday on the course they hope to make history on in a little over two months at Hanover. Northern finished 3rd behind the 4th ranked team in the nation, Wisconsin-Stevens Point and DII Bellarmine University. The Polar Bears were lead by seniors Jim O'Brien (7th) and Paul Lewis (9th) who finished in 26:33 and 26:36.

Baldwin-Wallace and Wilmington rounded out the trifecta of conference schools represented at the Madison-Kiwanis Invtational. B-W seniors Derek Hill (26:20) and Nate Bowen (26:27) impressed up front both defeating UWSP's third man en route to 4th and 5th place finishes overall.

The Quaker's were lead by junior Austin Stiles who finished 23rd overall in 27:04. Baldwin-Wallace finished 6th overall on the day and Wilmington was 9th, respectively.

#31 Mount Union College's Dan Whistler picked up where he left off last week with an overall win at Akron's Tommy Evans Invite. The meet was arranged to where the Division I schools that competed ran against each other, while the two Division III foes went head-to-head. Mount Union won the de facto 4-mile dual meet against conference rival John Carroll by a 15-50 score, as the top seven Purple Raiders claimed the first seven places.

JCU, who went into the meet with great news, welcoming back the OAC's defending indoor 1k champion, senior Daniel DiRuzza, was again lead by fellow senior Nick Habursky who finished 25th overall in a time of 22:35.

Muskingum College essentially opened their season Saturday (they had run their alumni meet the weekend before) at the Wittenberg Invitational. The Muskie men were lead by freshman Michael Besl (31:55) who was followed closely by junior Ian Hankins (31:58).

Capital, Heidelberg, Marietta and Otterbein all had the weekend off.

Mount's Dan Whistler Named Runner-of-the-Week

Mount Union junior Dan Whisler (Ashland) finished third out of 180 runners at the Buffalo State/Walker Invite last weekend. Whisler completed the 8k course in a time of 26:31 for his second-best personal time. The team finished second out of nine teams.

Other week 1 standouts included Heidelberg's Devin Butcher, who finished second overall at the Tiffin/Heidelberg Invitational in a personal course best of 26:04 as well as Baldwin-Wallace's Derek Hill who lead the way for the Yellow Jacket's last weekend finishing 4th overall at the Bill Sudeck Invite in 26:54.

More info including past OAC ROW's can be found here.