Cordes, Griffin Earn Berths at Cross Country Nationals
November 9, 2002

In a couple of weeks, we’ll get to see if AU senior Nick Cordes is as tough to beat on his home turf as Ohio governor Bob Taft.

Taft was re-elected last Tuesday and on Saturday (Nov. 9) at Grand Valley State, Cordes earned a berth at the NCAA Division II cross country championships by winning the Great Lakes regional individual championship. This year’s NCAA Division II national championship meet will be hosted by Ashland University and held at Brookside Golf Course on Saturday, Nov. 23.

Junior Tara Griffin will also run at the national meet. She was fourth, earning one of the individual spots at the national meet. Neither AU team qualified for the championship meet.

Cordes won his second regional championship by covering the 10K course in 31:22.3. Second place went to Hillsdale’s Steve Larson (32:14.0) and Joey Byrne (32:19.4) of Southern Indiana was third. Ashland’s second finisher was senior Rick Bement, who was 15th in 32:52.9. Senior Vince Swartzentruber was 25th in 33:18.6.

The other regional title of Cordes’ career came in 2000. The senior was redshirted in cross country last season.

Grand Valley State won the regional team championship with 55 points. Hillsdale (82) was second and Lewis (111) was third. Grand Valley State and Hillsdale are the teams that will advance to Ashland for the national championship meet.

This will be Griffin’s first trip to nationals. Her time was 22:12.1. The winner on the 5K course was Caitlin Compton of Northern Michigan, who clocked in at 21:53.1. Compton’s teammate, Jordan Seethaler, was the runnerup in 22:02.6. Third place went to Grand Valley State’s Mandi Long, who ran 22:10.3.

The AU women placed seventh in the team standings with 185 points. The top five teams in the regional advanced to the national meet. First place went to Grand Valley State with 33 points. Northern Michigan (52) was second, Wayne State (136) nailed down third, Wisconsin-Parkside (151) was fourth and Southern Indiana (169) secured fifth place. Sixth place went to Hillsdale (180).