DELAWARE, Ohio - The Beavers traveled down to Liberty Park for the OWU Invite on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. The field featured over 20 schools and provided the team with plenty of competition.

The men kicked off the night in the 8k race. Senior Cole Kropka (New London) once again led the men's team with a 28:09. Senior Braeden Horn (Galion) and junior Jarrod Roudebush (Coshocton) once again worked well together en route to a 28:31 and 28:33, respectively. This race was also a season best for Horn. Sophomore Grant Beasley (Versailles) finished 4th on the team with a 29:52. The freshmen duo of Jordan Croy (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) and Kaden McWatters (Genoa) pushed each other all through the race and finished just milliseconds apart, both running 31:25, which was a PR for Croy.

The women followed suit and saw a familiar face back on the line as senior Basil Gates (Galion) returned to action after suffering an injury in the summer. Freshmen Sara Smith (Mansfield/Madison Comprehensive) continued her strong freshmen campaign, shaving over a minute from her time two weeks ago and finishing in 24:46. Gates had a solid debut race finishing in 27:27. Freshmen Kamryn McDonald (Marion/Harding) also had a massive time drop, shaving off a minute and 20 seconds from her previous PR and finishing in 28:27.

Coach Gulick had this to say, "Overall we had a pretty solid day. We had some of the guys finally have a breakthrough day which was encouraging to see. We also had everyone on the line and had Malcolm and Chandler back, even though they didn't run the entire race. The women's squad really had themselves a night, our freshmen have just been gaining more confidence in the 6k and these breakthroughs were signs of that."

The Beavers will have two weeks of training before traveling to Wilmington on Friday, Oct. 18, for the Jenna Strong Classic to close out the regular season.

-BEAVERS-