CEDARVILLE, Ohio - The Bluffton University cross country teams traveled down to Cedarville University for the All-Ohio Championships on a hot Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. This meet featured competition from DI, DII, DIII and NAIA on a much tougher course than two weeks ago.

The women's squad kicked off the night. Freshman Sara Smith (Mansfield/Madison Comprehensive) had another outstanding race for the 6k, coming in at a 25:47 which was a 26 second PR and placed her 46th out of 150 runners among the DIII competitors. Next across the line was fellow freshmen Kamryn McDonald (Marion/Harding) finishing in 30:40.

The men's team followed suit and had a lot of great performances as the four returners averaged 49 seconds off their time from a year ago on the same course. Leading the charge was senior Cole Kropka (New London), coming in at 26:59 which placed him 29th among the DIII competition and the first time he has broken 27 minutes outside of November. Next across the line was the pack of junior Jarrod Roudebush (Coshocton), senior Braeden Horn (Galion) and sophomore Grant Beasley (Versailles) as they shrank their gap from 70 seconds two weeks ago to just a 21-second gap between the three crossing the line in 28:45, 29:02, and 29:06 respectively.

Jordan Croy (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) rounded out the scoring five with a 31:56. Fellow freshman Skylar Williams (Navarre/Fairless) was also able to come away with a new PR of 35:36 as well.

Coach Gulick on his thoughts about the races, "This was a good step in the right direction for us. We had a few things we were trying to emphasize this race and we did those really well. This is one of the tougher courses that we will run this season, and seeing so many great performances I think shows the potential we have as we build for the end of the season."

The Beavers will take another training week before returning to action at Ohio Wesleyan on Friday, Oct. 4.

-BEAVERS-