After months of practice and preparation, Ohio’s cross country teams didn’t meet all of their goals. Even so, the teams still delivered substantial results at the Mid-American Conference championships Saturday.
Going into the race at Kent State, assistant coach Mitch Bentley’s main goal for the men's unit was to finish between second through fourth place.
The team managed to meet this expectation, finishing the race in fourth place overall, scoring 98 points. That topped Bowling Green, Akron, Central Michigan, Toledo and Kent State.
The teams that beat Ohio were Eastern Michigan, Miami and Buffalo, teams the Bobcats knew they would face an uphill battle against.
All top four Bobcats runners placed within the top 25 of the race overall. Alex Wind led the way finishing eighth (25:37.8), while Michael McKean was 12th (25:48.5). The next Ohio runners that rounded the top five were Brad Miller, Zach Zimmerman and Kyle Bussard running 26:03.3, 26:05.5 and 26:33.1, respectively.
The women's team, however, struggled to find momentum and ended the race in ninth place, above just Ball State, Akron and Kent State.
The teams that came ahead of Ohio included Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Buffalo and Miami.
They were led by experienced junior Alyssa Atkinsons (22:09.1) who finished 26 out of 103 runners. Junior Christina Seas (23:14.3) also served as a leader on field finishing fifth.
Despite inexperience, underclassmen Abby Miller (22:57.7), Madison Sury (23:10.2) and Emily Deering (23:10.5) stepped up to the plate placing second, third and fourth, respectively.
Assistant distance coach Tim Sykes emphasized his team will improve with more experience in high stakes meets. He also said the key for growth is to focus enjoying the running process and not fixating on race results.
As November comes around, Ohio will have more at stake when it competes in the NCAA Great Lakes Regionals.
Their next race, the first series of the regionals, takes place on Friday, Nov. 11, in Madison, Wisconsin.
