CEDARVILLE, Ohio—Battling the rain, a wet course and winds ranging from between 20-25 miles per hour, the Heidelberg University men’s cross country team placed 21st among 45 teams and the women came in 33rd place out of 47 teams—despite missing freshman Julia Darling (Amsterdam/Carrollton)—today at the All-Ohio Championships on the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course in Cedarville, Ohio. The men’s team placed sixth among 22 NCAA Division III teams, while the women came in 15th.
In the men’s eight-kilometer race, senior Jordan Karnes (Edgerton) led the Student Princes with a time of 26:34.17 to finish in 8th place overall in a field of 310 runners and 10th among 147 NCAA Division III runners. Senior John Gogle (Sunbury/Big Walnut) came in 111th place in 27:06.06, and was followed by junior Dustin Kuess (Coldwater) in 130th place (27:18.20), junior Gareth Graver (Enon/Grenon) in 143rd place (27:27.98) and sophomore David Kindall (Sullivan/Black River) in 151st place (27:35.09).
Despite the poor running conditions, Kuess was just 23 seconds off his personal record.
The men totaled 2:16.01.50 of running time and averaged 27:12.30 to complete the course.
“We performed better today on the men’s side than we did two weeks ago,” said second-year head coach Briana Shook. “We are starting to compete better with the other teams in the [Ohio Athletic] Conference.”
In the women’s five-kilometer race, junior Bobbi Custer (Woodstock/Triad) topped all ‘Berg runners by placing 142nd in a field of 317 in 20:05.73. Sophomore Sophie Goobic (Canton, N.Y./Hugh C. Williams) clocked a 20:14.15 to place 155th. Heidelberg’s top-five was rounded out by freshman Rachael Brushaber (Harbor Springs, Mich./Harbor Springs) in 219th (21:18.41), sophomore Jocelyn Staugler (Coldwater) in 229th (21:28.42) and freshman Kelsey Swavel (Upper Sandusky) in 286th (23:40.48).
The women totaled 1:46.47.19 of running time and averaged 21:21.44 to complete the course.
“We ran tough as a unit,” added Shook. “It was tough missing [Darling], but we got to see some of our competition in the conference, so we can tell where we are at this point.”
Following a two-week layoff, both teams next compete Oct. 15 at the Oberlin Invitational.