The Oberlin College women’s cross-country team continued the triumphant beginning of their 2006 season by winning the Great Lakes Colleges Association Championship title this past weekend in Richmond, Indiana.

Sophomore Maddy Davis-Hayes clocked a fast 19:33 time over the 5,000-meter course, good for a second-place finish. She was followed by senior Ariane Burwell, who crossed the finish line a couple of strides behind Davis-Hayes with a time of 19:37. Junior Marie Barnett pulled out an eighth place finish for Oberlin and was followed by sophomore Flannery Cerbin and junior Alison Doniger who pulled out 13th and 14th place finishes.

The top five female Oberlin finishers won All-Great Lakes Colleges Association honors with a combined team score of 40 points for the title.

“It was incredible. The girls’ team came back from a death-defying wrong turn and managed to crawl their way back to a first place finish,” said sophomore Corey Squire over a dinner of Lucky Charms cereal in Stevenson.

News of the team’s exciting comeback has been circulating around campus. The truth is that a coach accidentally directed the lead runners in the wrong direction on the course. Davis-Hayes and Burwell were able to backtrack and channel their frustration over the course slip-up to kick past the competition, leading their team to a remarkable first place finish.

Davis-Hayes was selected on Monday as the NCAC runner of the week for her outstanding performance in the GLCA championships.

The Oberlin men’s team ran hard in the GLCA championships with seniors Travis Grout and John Shaw leading the pack. Grout ran a time of 27:08, good for seventh place and was followed by Shaw who finished 12th with a time of 27:20 on the 8,000-meter course. Overall, the men earned 94 points for a fourth place finish.

Shaw was particularly excited by his team’s progress.

“We have really been gelling as a team. We really focused this past weekend and were able to run faster than expected. We beat the second and third ranked teams in the conference. That’s exciting!” Shaw said.

Both teams compete next at the Otterbein Invitational on Sept. 23.