The Bobcats showed off their depth in the Green and White Invitational at the Ohio University Golf Course Saturday.
In the meet against Robert Morris, the men's cross-country team took the first 15 places, winning 15-50. These 15 runners were separated by less than a minute and a half, with junior Ridge Robinson finishing first at 14:59 and freshman Dan Quarfoot finishing at 16:25.
Cross country is a sport of seven
said assistant coach Mitch Bentley. On any given day somebody's going to have an off day. You pretty much have to expect somebody is going to have an off day. If you don't then you're going to be disappointed time and time again.
Even more encouraging for the Bobcats were the sixth- through 10th-place runners. Matt Michno, Sean Kelley, Todd Holbrook, Todd Fraser and Joey Cherico finished within five seconds of one another.
One of the best things for a team is to have competition within that team
said senior Shamus Eaton. When you got that many guys close together
you are going to be fighting all season pushing each other.
Despite the results, the Bobcats know that they still have some work to do.
For the most part
I think that today was a good showing
said Robinson. There are still some areas that we need to work on for later in the season.
The women's team also finished well, defeating the Colonials 15-50. The Bobcats took the top 13 places, led by junior Kari Summers at 17:15.
I think that we knew that we would take the top 10 to 15 spots because it's just one other school
said junior Annie Beecham, who finished second at 17:32. But we were all really impressed with how fast we were.
For the course, the times were much faster than the previous three years. The coaching staff said it prepared the course for the rain, which never came, shortening one turn-off by 60 meters.
It's made it a little bit more difficult to really access the times
said Bentley. But we've already determined some time factors to adjust them.
Even with these time factors, there were some runners that ran times better than expected. Abigail Swift finished fourth on the team and posted a personal record of 18:34. The time bested her old personal mark by one minute and eight seconds.
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