by Bernin Noll
CINCINNATI, OH - The Bluffton College Cross Country teams were in action this weekend at the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championships, hosted by Mt. St. Joseph at Mt. Airy National Forest. The wet course conditions were made up by the excellent racing temperature at a steady 55 degrees for the races resulting in some overall fast times for the meet.
The men raced first and had success as they beat rival Defiance by a narrow one-point margin. "The men ran their hearts out today and came up a little short of what we were aiming for, but we did finish one place higher than last year which shows the improvement in the program as a whole," said Head Coach Derek Stanley.
The women were second to display their talent during the meet and when the final points were tallied, the women came up just one point short of 5th place. "This was a close one that was difficult to see as the race broke down. The women ran a very strong race today, which was shadowed by the fact that the conference is just that much better this year," Coach Stanley said of the women's performance.
It was sophomore Andy Schiefer who took the lead for his team and guided himself to a 19th place finish overall. Schiefer's time was his best of the year and a collegiate personal-best of 28:32 for the 8,000m race. Finishing second for the team this week was sophomore Roy Kaplan who finished the race in 27th place with a 29:24. Also scoring for the Beaver were, Steve Borga, 30th, 29:32; Dan Rosebrock, 36th, 30:00; and Josh Tolley, 37th, 30:01. Rounding out the team was 6th man, Andrew Smith, 43rd, 30:46 and 7th man, Patrick Cooley, 45th, 31:12.
In the women's race, freshman Carrie Hudecek continued her rise through the team as she used a steady pace to maneuver her to finish first for the Beavers. Hudecek placed 17th overall covering the 6,000m course in a time of 25:14. Freshman Jennifer Creamer was not far behind Hudecek as she finished in 20th with a time of 25:30. Also scoring for the Beavers were, MaryAnna Morgan, 24th, 25:45; Rachael Szydlowski, 31st, 26:04; and coming off of injury, Lauren Borga, 36th, 26:23. Also running for Bluffton was Jennifer Niedermier, 38th, 26:26; Rachel Noirot, 54th, 28:00, Stephanie Welch, 56th, 28:16; and Alicia Stanko, 76th, 30:36.
"I think we ran as well as we could have today. The training coupled with the race strategy did not necessarily put us in a position to make huge moves in either race. I blame that on myself because the workouts will probably not take affect until a week or two from now. We ran well but we still have one more meet to compete at, and I think the results will come out a little differently when that race is complete," Derek Stanley said of the meet.
The NCAA Great Lakes Regional is the next meet on the Beaver's schedule. The races are being held on Saturday, November 16th at Hawthorne Hills Golf Course in Lima, OH. The men's race begins at 11:00am and the women run at 12:00 noon.