September 21, 2007

BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University cross country teams hosted their annual Bluffton Invitational on a warm Friday, September 21, 2007. Strong squads from Manchester College dominated the races as the Bluffton women placed second while the men finished third out of four squads.

Leading the way for the Bluffton women was senior SARAH HUMPHREY (Upper Sandusky/Upper Sandusky) who set the pace for much of the race and narrowly missed out on the victory as she crossed the line second with a superb time of 24:46.34 on the six-kilometer course. Next in for the Beavers were freshman ARIANA FRANGOS(Hudson/Twinsburg) and senior BREE FETTERMAN (North Royalton/Padua) who placed ninth and tenth with times of 26:56.08 and 27:23.53, respectively. Sophomore SARAH BINKLEY(Bluffton/Cory-Rawson) and freshman AMY TRACEY (North Ridgeville/Elyria Catholic) rounded out the scorers for Bluffton, crossing the line in 28:45.29 and 33:17.81.

Freshman BRIAN TIMPE (Wauseon/Pike-Delta-York) was the first Beaver to finish on the men's side, placing ninth with a time of 29:11.70 after Manchester claimed the top seven finishers. Senior HILLARY SHILOSIO (Eldoret/Kenya) crossed the line in 30:00.63 for a 12th place showing. Not far behind Shilosio were fellow seniors PETE HUSTED (Carrollton/Carrollton) and TYLER FAIRCHILD (Toledo/Whitmer) who placed 17th and 18th with times of 32:10.15 and 32:40.94, respectively. Pushing each other all the way to the finish line were sophomore BEN SIEBERT (Celina/Celina) and freshman BEN ALTHAUS (Delhi, NY/Delhi) who both just missed staying under 34 minutes. Battling back spasms, senior MIKE KOCH (Liberty Center/Liberty Center) finished the course in 35:34.39 for 25th place.

The Beavers return to action on Saturday, Sept. 29, when they travel to the Earlham Invitational. The meet is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

-BEAVERS-