By Ben Risinger, SID

November 1, 2003

BLUFFTON, OHIO - The Bluffton College men's and women's cross country teams finished the 2003 campaign at the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championships at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky on Saturday.
    The Bluffton men finished at fourth place, with the women finishing fifth place respectively.  Both finishes are the best in recent years for the cross country program. The men's program found its best finish ever at fourth place. The last time that the women's program finished fifth was in 2000. 
    "The runners ran exactly how I wanted them to run," coach Derek Stanley said. "The men ran the best they could have run and the women ran gutsy, but unfortunately came up a little short."

WOMEN
1. Anderson                                      33
2. Defiance                                       72
3. Franklin                                        99
4. Manchester                                125
5. BLUFFTON               133
6. Hanover                                       137
7. Mount St. Joseph                       150
8. Transylvania                               177

16. Carrie Hudecek                 24:58.39
19. Jennifer Creamer              25:15.65
28. Lauren Borga                   24:43.63
29. Lauren Bailey                   26:02.51
41. Jen Neidermier                 26:53.71
52. Stephanie Welch              27:41.36
55. Rachel Noirot                   27:52. 38
59. Lindsay Bryant                28:11.05
62. Meggan Hartzog              28:23.48
67. Lourie Sanford                28:45.83
78. Alicia Stanko                   30:47.46


MEN
1. Anderson                                                34
2. Manchester                                           59
3. Hanover                                                 68
4. BLUFFTON                    113
5. Franklin                                                 146
6. Defiance                                                156
7. Mount St. Joseph                                 192
8. Transylvania                                         198

17. Dave Espinoza                     28:32.81
18. Andy Schiefer                      28:35.66
22. Patrick Cooley                      28:57.04
24. Jordon Bruner                      29:04.84
33. Justin Crites                         29:34.76
38. Johnny Ichrist                      30:07.68
41. Dan Rosebrock                    30:35.14
44. Chris Wojciechowski           30:58.51
47. Kitt Lashley                          31:09.72