October 8, 2001

The Bluffton College cross country teams competed at the All-Ohio Invitational hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University on Friday, October 5. 

Freshman Maryanna Morgan led the women's squad, finishing the 3.1 mile race in 21:42 to finish 156th overall. Freshman Andy Schiefer led the men's team with a time of 29:45 for the five mile course, which placed 174th.

The All-Ohio Invitational is open to all colleges and universities in Ohio, of which all but a few squads compete to bring the field to nearly 35 schools.

"We are a good solid team," said Head Coach Derek Stanley, "but the one thing that we are missing is a front runner and that becomes extremely evident in a race like this. The women ran as good as they could today, and I am especially pleased with the performances of Maryanna and Jen Oyer, they really came around today."

Oyer ran a personal best 22:16 to lead Bluffton in the open race. In addition to Morgan, Bluffton's six runners in the elite race included Ben Noll (22:03), Kristen Stager (22:54), Katie Gwirtz (23:04), Jennifer Niedermier (23:21), Alyssa Inniger (23:32) and Mandy Borgelt (23:36).

"We had a set-back today that cost us some points but the men ran decent," Stanley said of the men's squad. "I am especially pleased with Roy [Kaplan] who finally looks like he's starting to believe in himself. It's going to be exciting to see what these guys do in the next two meets."

Following Schiefer, running for Bluffton were Kaplan (29:59), Mitch Stacy (30:14), Steve Borga (30:26), Chris White (31:39), Trevor Cupples (35:18) and Jeremy Gaub (36:19).