By Bryson Hartzler, sports information assistant

Men's Results http://www.bluffton.edu/sports/crosscountry/2012/0929men.htm  

I  Women's Results http://www.bluffton.edu/sports/crosscountry/2012/0929women.htm

The Bluffton University men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the 58th annual All-Ohio Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships on the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course located on the campus of Cedarville University. The field on Saturday, Sept. 29 consisted of nearly 50 collegiate teams from all across Ohio with over 500 athletes competing in the four races throughout the day.

The men finished in 19th place among DIII competitors. They ended the day with an abundance of personal bests. Freshman Colin McCloskey (Sylvania/Northview) improved by 14 seconds from last week, finishing in 27:07.93 for 46th place among DIII athletes. Sophomore Ryan Schadewald (Lima/Bath) had a large personal best as well, dropping 38 seconds to finish in 27:52.94. Kevin Stewart (Springfield/Emmanuel Christian Academy) rounded out the top three for the Beavers with a personal-best time of 28:23.78. Schadewald and Stewart finished 79th and 97th, respectively, among DIII athletes.

Assistant coach Jim Brandt was pleased with the overall performance of the men’s team, especially relative to the young nature of the team. “They maintained very good composure in this environment. Colin McClosksey’s race was outstanding for a freshman, he wasn’t the least bit phased by a field full of DI and DII runners. Ryan Schadewald made a huge improvement on his lifetime PR, breaking 28 minutes. He was running with a lot of confidence today.

The women also finished 19th among Division III competitors, led once again by senior captain Alison Janzen (Whitewater, Kan./Remington). Janzen finished in 67th place among DIII athletes with a personal-best time of 20:17.58 over 5k, shaving 17 seconds off of her previous best time. The freshman duo of Tara Murphy (Westerville/Thomas Worthington) and Demi Snider (Kenton) were the second and third Beavers to cross the line for the second consecutive week. Murphy finished in 93rd place in 21:13:41. Snider was close behind, finishing in 110th place (22:06.70).

Assistant Coach Jim Brandt had a slight degree of frustration with the women. “They are having a hard time running their individual A+ races on the same day. Some of that is due to their youth. If we could succeed in doing that, we would have a much stronger team finish. Alison Janzen has incrementally improved her PR performances; she is on the verge of breaking into the teens for the 5k distance.” Coach Brandt is looking forward to an intense week of training leading up to Oberlin and then the Heartland Conference championships at the end of the month.

The Beavers are off next weekend but will return to action on the 13th of October at the Oberlin Invitational.