The men’s and women’s cross country teams may not have been as busy as the other Oberlin sports teams over fall break, but they took care of business in their only meet against Kenyon at home on Oct. 14, with both teams finishing in first place.

Excitement had spread between the teams for some time, as they prepared for the only home meet of the season. The Oberlin teams performed magnificently in the 5K races, with the women recording 19 points and the men collecting 24.

The women’s cross-country team has finally been receiving the recognition that they deserve. Heading into the race, the Yeowomen were ranked 28 in all of Division III cross-country teams. Their defeat of Kenyon by 23 points supported their role as a team to be reckoned with.

Oberlin dominated the race; eight of the top ten runners were Obies. The Yeowomen were led by sophomore Maddy Davis-Hayes who came in first with a time of 17:48. Oberlin then took third, fourth, fifth and sixth with junior Marie Barnett (18:23), sophomore Flannery Cerbin (18:43), junior Alison Doniger (18:56) and senior Barrie Newberger (19:02), respectively. Sophomore Nicky Ouellet finished eighth with a time of 19:17, followed by junior Danielle Koplinka-Loehr in ninth at 19:23 and first-year Piper Niehaus rounding out the top ten at 19:41.

The Yeomen beat Kenyon by eight points even without the team’s top two runners in senior tri-captains John Shaw and Travis Grout. Sophomore Connor Doss led Oberlin with a second place finish at 15:57. Sophomore Everett Schlawin and junior Daniel Lesser took third and fourth with times of 15:58 and 16:05, respectively. Junior Andrew Higgins claimed the sixth spot at 16:10 and senior Matt Ferris-Smith rounded out Oberlin’s top five runners at the ninth spot with a time of 16:15.

Grout and Shaw decided to rest in order to be ready for the conference meet this week. Grout was thoroughly impressed with the team’s performance, and he was excited to see that the team can do well even without the two runners.

“The top runners on the team, John Shaw and I, decided to take the meet off after a tough week of training and to rest for conference. We were still there to support the team. I was dressed as a giant Power Bar. The team did brilliantly. I was wondering how our guys would do without their two top finishers. It was kind of a test race for next year. They beat Kenyon and they proved they will be able to do it again next year,” said Grout.

Grout also felt the women’s team should go on to achieve great things this year, after watching them cruise against Kenyon. “The girls tore up. But they always do. They are an excellent team. They should win conference.” The win boosted them up to an impressive ranking as 24th in the nation.

Both teams will take their recent success into this weekend’s conference championships at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. The races begin at 11 a.m.