Ohio's fourth-place finishes encouraged coach Clay Calkins.
Ohio faced tougher opponents in Friday's season opener than it is used to seeing at this point in the year, which made the men's and women's finishes more impressive.
It was a great start to the season
Calkins said. The kids did great on both sides. This (was) a little more brisk competition then we're normally hitting this time of year.
At the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational the Bobcats faced three Atlantic Coast Conference teams in Wake Forest, host Virginia Tech and Florida State. The Seminoles were ranked third nationally on the women's side and 23rd on the men's side.
Florida State finished first on the women's side with 26 points, followed by the Demon Deacons with 61 points and the Hokies with 100. The Bobcats tied the University of South Carolina Upstate with 119 points.
Jenielle Hunt had Ohio's best time, finishing 12th overall with a time of 17:04.6. The senior, who was one of Ohio's best runners last season, said the women did well.
I think (we're) definitely off to a good start Hunt said. It's good to get our first race under our belt.
Hunt was followed by senior Abigail Swift, who finished 24th with a time of 17:58.1. Ohio's top-two runners, seniors Annie Beecham and Kari Summers, are recovering from injury and did not compete.
The men's team finished with 117 points. Sophomore Joey Cherico finished first for Ohio, placing 19th overall with a time of 25:07.0. Dan Quarfoot, Cory Irwin and Chris Davis finished within a second of each other to grab the 29th, 30th and 31st spots.
Calkins said the meet allowed him to gauge how the younger players, especially the freshmen, would handle their first race of the season.
That first collegiate meet for freshmen is always a true test to see how they're going to race Calkins said. They did well today. It was a great meet
with great competition.
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Sports
Nathaniel Maund
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The men
