The Bluffton University cross country team ran their final tune-up for the Heartland Conference Championship in two weeks with the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble and came home with another excellent result on Saturday, Oct. 13.

The women's team ran to another all-time best finish, placing seventh out of 26 total teams in the race, including knocking off many conference foes in the process.

The Beavers were led by junior Alexis Cash (Gaines, Mich./Lake Fenton), who ran the second-fastest time in school history, just three seconds short of her own school record. Cash took 18th place in the meet with a time of 23:00.7. Senior Jennie Matteson (Guysville/Alexander) followed Cash through with a season-best time of 23:34.3, which is a career-best and also places her back into the top ten times in school history.

The pack of Beavers continued to sprint through the line one after the other as sophomore Kimberly Hetrick (Fremont/Ross) ran a career-best 23:41.2, good enough for 54th place. Sophomore Bailie Barrington (Waynesfield/Waynesfield-Goshen) dropped a minute off of her personal-best to finish just behind Hetrick in the 60th spot with a time of 23:47.7. Junior Arie Cox (Ontario) rounded out the scoring five for Bluffton with a  20-second personal-best time of 24:33.0 and the 97th position.

Freshman Hope Nixon (Jamestown/Johnstown-Monroe) also added a two-minute personal-best to round out the Beaver women with a time of 27:04.5!

On the men's side, the Beavers placed 20th out of 27 scoring teams with 488 total points. They were led by junior Dakota Frost (Hicksville), who easily ran a season-best time of 26:36.4, which was good enough for the 37th spot. Senior Jonah Eckert (Terre Haute, Ind./West Vigo) finished just off the Frost's pace in the 47th position with a time of 26:46, while junior Connor Gulick (St. Louisville/Utica) also finished with a season-best mark of 27:22.7 and the 81th position. Senior Michael Lehman (West Liberty/West Liberty-Salem) was next across the line for Bluffton with a season-best time of 30:37.3, while Jacob Hill (Dayton/Wayne) rounded out the scoring for Bluffton.

The Beavers return to the course on Saturday, Oct. 27, as they again head to Shelbyville, Ind., for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships. The women's race is set to begin at 12 p.m. with the men's race to follow at 1 p.m.