September 9, 2002
by Derek Stanely

TIFFIN, OH - The Bluffton College Cross Country team ran their first full length meet of the season this past Friday, September 06th, but did not run it full strength. The Beavers were given a specific race strategy before the race that would allow the men and women to pace better as teams. The strategy paid off well!

The men's competition was scheduled first in the 9 team meet. The Beavers ended up 8th, just 14 points from conference rival Defiance. The strategy that was given to them was to go out at 6:00 minute pace and hold for three miles, then go with how you felt. As the race wound through the golf course the runners obeyed the strategy and prospered in the end. The team was lead by Sophomore Roy Kaplan again as he cover the 8,000m course in 28:37, good for 33rd place overall. Second for the team was Senior captain Steve Borga not far behind in a time of 28:43 - 36th place. Also scoring for the Beavers were Andy Schiefer (So.) 29:06 - 47th, Josh Tolley (Fr.) 29:34 - 54th, and Patrick Cooley (Fr.) 29:53 - 59th. Sixth man was Andrew Smith (Fr.) 31:34 - 75th, and seventh man was Stephen Rabe (Jr.) 35:29 - 86th.

In the women's competition, the goal was to run identical 1 and 2 mile splits. The women did what they were supposed to, for the most part and finished 7th in the 9 team field. Freshman Lauren Borga who ran an excellent time of 20:36 to finish 19th overall led Bluffton. Next in for the Beavers was Jen Niedermier (So.) who ran a time of 20:59 good for 32nd. Not far behind was

MaryAnna Morgan (So.) who ran a 21:03 to earn 34th place, Rachael Szydlowski who ran a 21:08 to place 36th, and rounding out the scoring was Jennifer Creamer (Fr.) in a time of 21:24 good for 41st place. Also finishing for Bluffton was Rachel Noirot (Jr.) 23:08 - 68th place and Alicia Stanko (Fr.) 25:42 - 79th place.

"I am so proud of how well all the runners ran today. I gave them strategies to run and they followed their instructions well. We didn't run an all-out meet today and we were still competitive. If you look at our times you wouldn't know we were training through these early meets!" said Coach Stanley about the meet.

The Beavers are off this coming weekend and will compete next at the Queen City Invitational in Cincinnati on Friday, September 20th. The races are scheduled to start at 4:00 pm.

-BEAVERS-