All-Ohio Proves Tough for Pioneers

Oct. 8, 2004
DELAWARE, Ohio – It seemed to be a nice day (Oct. 8) to run in a cross country meet, but looks can be deceiving.  The course at the All-Ohio Championships hosted by Ohio Wesleyan proved to be more of a challenge than most runners had hoped for.  The rolling course and prevailing sunshine heated up the challenge of the race and took a few casualties as well.

The Marietta College Cross Country team went into the All-Ohio with just one competition under its belt this season.  The learning curve for the year was still in effect for both teams as the men completed the competition in 34th place overall and 15th in Division III competition.  The women were again unable to substantiate a team score as injury played a role in vacant roster spot.

The men led off the competition and were paced again by Clark Spears (Brunswick).  Spears went out with the pack he needed to but was unable to sustain the pace on the challenging course.  He ended up finishing 154th place overall (55th in DIII), covering the 8,000 meter course in 29:21.  Next in for the Pioneers was again the freshman duo of John Hull (Scott Depot, WV) (190th/80th/30:13) and Harrison Potter (Rochester, NY) (92nd/82nd/30:20).  Finishing up the scoring for the men were Andrew Wichie (Brunswick) (199th/85th/30:32) and Lyle Sulfridge (Vincent) (215th/95th/31:20).  Also running for the men were Ben Williams (Marietta) (234th/107th/32:41), Travis Shipe (Bethel Park, PA) (240th/111th/32:55), and Alex Lugosch (Round Pond, ME) (179th/35:25) in the open race. 

The women were lead again by Lydia Christopher (Cypress, TX) who used a consistent effort throughout the race to finish well for the Pioneers.  Christopher came across the line with a time of 23:06 for the 5,000 meter challenge and finished in 224th overall and 99th in the DIII race.  Also running for the women were Valarie Niedermier (New Washington) (232nd/105th/23:34), Brea Gardner (Glenford) (234th/106th/23:41), and Lyndley Dmitsak (Alquippa, PA) (257th/119th/25:22).

“The course is tough when the sun is out,” said head cross country coach Derek Stanley.  “Mistakes can cost you on a course like this but I am confident that my kids ran smart and ran with guts on these hills.  I feel they did a good job today.”