December 9, 2017

FINDLAY, Ohio - Six Bluffton athletes competed Saturday at the University of Findlay "Oiler Opener" with their sights set on fast times and potential HCAC conference qualifiers. Consider it mission accomplished as all six ran lifetime-best times over the 3,000 meter distance; three posted qualifiers; and one broke the women's school record.

Highlighting the outing was the win by sophomore Alexis Cash (Gaines, MI/Lake Fenton) who put her name in the track school record book for the first time with a 10:53.31 clocking, easily qualifying her for the championship meet. Winning the men's edition was sophomore Dakota Frost (Edgerton/Hicksville) who along with junior Jennie Matteson (Guysville/Alexander) joined Cash as conference qualifiers. Both of them also saw significant improvements in their previous best times. Despite dropping an impressive 13 seconds from the time she established one week earlier, freshman Kimmie Hetrick (Fremont/Ross) narrowly missed the qualifier by 15/100th of a second. Sophomore Arie Cox (Ontario) and junior Jonah Eckert (Terre Haute, Ind./West Vigo) acquitted themselves in fine fashion as well, each of them running PRs by 15 seconds and 23 seconds respectively.

"We put this idea together last week," said Head Coach Karen Brandt. "We had a quality opportunity in our backyard for these folks to go home with a conference qualifier checked off their list before semester break and they were all excited about the chance to go for it. I expected good performances, but every one of them exceeded expectations. There is a real commitment to training and a serious attitude throughout the distance squad that manifested itself in these races. I also think this will really fuel their motivation to train over the break and come back ready to compete in January."

Upon return to campus, the Beavers will compete again at Findlay on January 12.

-BEAVERS-