This past week, the Behrend Cross Country teams participated at the Oberlin College Inter-Regional Rumble 8K (men’s) and 6K (women’s) in Oberlin, Ohio. Both the men’s and women’s teams had quality showings at the event, as the men’s team placed tenth out of 31 teams with a score of 323 and the women’s team placed sixth out of 29 teams with a score of 227. Scores are determined by placement in the race, so the lowest score wins, for those of you who are unfamiliar with cross country scoring.

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The men’s squad were unable to capitalize on the momentum they built at the Houghton Invitational, but still had a respectable finish. Over the 8 kilometer (or 4.24 mile) race, Behrend averaged a total time of 26:52. It was certainly a tight race all around; Behrend, the tenth place team, averaged only about a minute lower time than the winning school, that being DePauw University. Senior Dylan Buffington was the highest placed Behrend runner, ranking 26th overall out of 265 runners. Buffington ran for a time of 26 minutes and 9.3 seconds, just edging out the 27th placed runner, Walt Dearing of Rose-Hulman, by one-tenth of a second. Freshman Zachary Wortman was not too far behind his Behrend counterpart, placing a very impressive 32nd overall at a clip of 26 minutes and 18.3 seconds. Rounding out the top 100 for the Lions were freshman Jake Lehotsky and Ian Grifith, who placed 63rd and 88th at times of 26 minutes, 53.7 and 27 minutes and 12.6 seconds, respectively.

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The women’s team, who ran a 6 kilometer (3.73 mile) race could not have done much better, both as a team and as individuals. In a race with 240 runners, the Behrend women placed five out of their seven participants in the top 100, with the two who did not place in the top 100 placing 111th and 126th, respectively. Freshman Savannah Carr, who had been on the shelf since September 15 after the Behrend Invitational, had the most astonishing performance of the Behrend runners, tallying a time of 22 minutes and 30 seconds, which is an even 3 minute, 45 second kilometer pace. Only 18 seconds separated Carr from the second place runner Hilary Reigle of Mount Union. Linnea Halsten, of Oberlin, took full advantage of the home-track advantage, placing first by over a minute ahead of Reigle. In addition to Carr, Behrend had very strong showings from sophomore Riley Crissman, sophomore Jenna Shelton, and junior Courtney Sargent, who placed 20th, 39th, and 68th respectively. Oberlin dominated the event as a team, winning the event in a landslide, as none of their runners placed below 33rd.

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Both men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete in the AMCC Championship Tournament next week, on October 28, at 11 am in Hamburg, New York. And with the performances in the Oberlin Invitational, Behrend has a reason to be excited. The Lions certainly have an opportunity to cement themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming Conference and Division III Tournaments.