The Oberlin Men’s and Women’s cross country teams competed in the NCAC cross country championships on Saturday Oct. 29 at Denison University. The Yeowomen performed very well, placing second overall.

Relying mostly on the strength of three top 15 runners, the Women’s squad earned 71 points. Sophomore Alison Doniger, who placed fifth in the race, led the Yeowomen. Sophomore Marie Barnett placed 11th, while Junior Ariane Burwell crossed the finish line in 14th place.

Head Coach Ray Appenhimer commented on individual performances.“Two of our runners, Marie Barnett and Rebecca Turnbull, really stepped up for us. Marie ran with toughness and confidence and was able to place 11th – up from 33rd last year,” he said.

“Rebecca has been a great leader for us all season, and ran with the guts and determination you would expect and want from a senior in her last conference meet.  We were led again by Alison Doniger who has established herself as one of the premier runners in the Great Lakes Region.”

Denison won the Championship with a total of 37 points. With this large gap in points came some dissatisfaction from the runners. In the words of Doniger: “On the whole, the conference meet for the women was not too great. We had a few outstanding individual performances, but we ended up losing to Denison by a pretty large margin and many of the girls (myself included) did not do as well as they had hoped.”

Although some runners felt they had not performed up to their potential, Coach Appenheimer was very pleased. “I am very proud of how the women performed.  We had five all-conference runners and improved on our place to second from fifth last year,” he said.

The Yeowomen along with Coach Appenheimer have high hopes for the next meet, saying that they believe the regional meet will showcase their ability.

The Yeomen also improved greatly on their performance from last year, finishing sixth with a total of 141 points. They were just one point away from Ohio Wesleyan and fifth place. Junior Travis Grout led the Yeomen with an eighth place finish.

Reflecting on the meet Coach Appenheimer said, “What is most exciting about this team is that any combination of our guys can be running between our second and seventh man.  They are a tight group who keep each other on their toes.  Travis Grout has done great things for us up front, and will be running with the best runners in the region next week.”

Allegheny College captured first place with a total of 26 points. Both teams improved from last year, the Yeomen sneaking up from eight to sixth and the Yeowomen moving from fifth to second. Both squads will compete in the NCAA Regional Meet in Wilmington, Ohio on Nov. 12.