AU Men’s Cross Country Finishes Seventh, Women 17th at All-Ohio Championships
October 8, 2005

By Paul Carmany, AU Sports Information

Facing both the toughest competition and the nastiest weather conditions of the season, the Ashland University men’s and women’s cross country teams were still able to fashion solid performances on Friday afternoon (Oct. 7). The AU men finished seventh and the women were 17th on the undulating course at Methodist Theological School in Delaware, OH.

The men’s squad trailed five NCAA Division I institutions and Malone, the champion of the NCAA Division II/NAIA grouping, in the 41-team field. Ohio State held off Ohio, 64-75, to win its second straight team title on the men’s side. AU’s final score was 267, and the Eagles placed second in the NCAA Division II/NAIA division.

Freshman Jeremy Trein was the first Eagle to cross the line, finishing 35th out of 286 runners. Trein’s time was 26:59.1 on the 8K course. AU’s next finisher was also a freshman, Zak Wilburn. Wilburn placed 47th in 27:20.9. Jason Oswalt (54th, 27:30.2), Bryan Ropp (58th, 27:37.2) and Ricky Featheringill (73rd, 27:52.3) rounded out Ashland’s top five. One factor aiding the Eagles’ success was the small 53-second spread between their first five runners. Otterbein senior Mike Sawicki was the overall champion, finishing in 25:46.5.

AU’s women’s team finished with a score of 486, good for third place among the 10 NCAA Division II/NAIA competitors. Cedarville was tops among those competitors, but Akron was the overall champion for the first time in school history, finishing with 71 points. Ohio State was the meet runnerup.

Senior Erin Stauffer finished 18th out of 285 competitors, clocking a 19:09.7 on the 5K course. Mara Lee Albright was 62nd, ending up with a 19:52.3. Jessica Fleming (85th, 20:12.5), Miranda Forgac (145th, 21:15.0) and Becky Yoder (180th, 21:56.8) were AU’s 3-4-5 runners. Akron’s Beata Rudzinska lead her team to victory by crossing the line first in 17:50.2.

Ashland’s next meet will be the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championships on Saturday, Oct. 22 at Northern Michigan.