Marietta women and men run to best finish at OAC Championships
Women place ninth, men eighth at 2005 Championships

Written with the assistance of Derek Stanley
Oct. 29, 2005
WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Marietta College women and men’s cross country teams ran to the program's best finish since rejoining the league in 2002. On a perfect day for running, both teams competed well against the firm competition that is the Ohio Athletic Conference and came out with a smile on their faces. 

"We had our goals set before the race and knew what we had to do," said head coach Derek Stanley. "Although this race was just like any other with its positives and negatives, we definitely had mostly positives!"

Ohio Northern held on for first place in the women’s race with a score of 63 points. John Carroll was second with 64 and Mount Union was thirrd with 76. The Pioneer women finished ninth with a score of 257. On the men’s side, Mount Union took the championship finishing five men in the top 18 with a score of 50 points. Otterbein was second with 63 and Ohio Northern was thirrd with 69. The Pioneer men finished in eighth place with 247 points. 

The Otterbein cross country course is known to be fast in the fall and the Marietta women knew they would need to run fast to turn in a performance that would get them off the ground level of the OAC. They did just that. All five women running for the Pioneers PR’d (personal record) on the 6,000m course at the meet it was needed most. 

Leading the way for the women once again was Emily Klodowski who had the second highest place by a female since reinstatement of the program, finishing in 36th place overall. Her time of 24:38 is the fastest 6k recorded in school history.

Coming in second for Marietta was Jessi Larrison, running the race of her young career. At the 5k mark Larrison was well over two minutes ahead of her previous races at that point. She finished 58th in the race with a time of 25:47.

Third in for the women was Brea Gardner, as she held on strong to finish 61st in a 25:58. Next in was Lyndley Dmitsak in her last collegiate race. Dmitsak had her race of the season, bettering last year’s finish by 10 spots earning 82nd in a 27:31. Finally for the Pioneer women was Janelle Rodes who also PR’d and gave the team a much need fifth person allowing them to score as a team.  Rodes ran to 96th in a 31:10. 

In the men’s race the success continued. Five of Marietta’s 10 runners PR’d including the leader for the men, Harrison Potter. Potter used a sustained effort to put him where he needed to be in the race and keep him there.  Potter’s 36th place is the best at the OAC meet by any male since 2002 and his time of 27:15 is the fastest recorded at the championship meet since the program’s reinstatement.

Second in for the Pioneers was John Hull, who raced to a 59th place finish, nine places better than last year. His time was a personal-best 27:50, 1 min. 53 seconds better than last year.

Third for the men was Clark Spears in 67th with a 28:09.  Finishing up the top five were Jered Mitchem and Kyle Hummel, respectively. In his first collegiate 8k race Mitchem used a big kick in the last 400m to earn 81st place in 28:52.6, while Hummel had the race of his collegiate career finishing 82nd in 28:52.8, over three minutes better than his previous best this year.

Next in was Ben Williams who also ran to a PR performance finishing 92nd in 29:13. Finishing up for the team was Joseph Wynes who PR’d as well with a time of 30:27 earning him 102nd place, Andrew Wichie (103rd, 30:32), Lyle Sulfridge (109th, 31:38) and Isiah Johnson in his first ever collegiate meet (115th, 32:10). 

"I am very proud of what my kids accomplished today," said Stanley. "This truly shows the direction of our program is positive."

Most of the Pioneers have completed their season, although a few will continue on and compete at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championship held at Voice of America Park on Saturday, November 12. The meet is being hosted by Wilmington College and only Pioneer runners that have hit certain criteria will be participating.