Senior Andrew Harden finishes third, leads Men's Cross Country at All-Ohio Championships
By Caleb Scott
ADA — Senior Andrew Harden (Vandalia/Vandalia-Butler) finished third among Div. III runners as the Ohio Northern men's cross country team finished second of 16 teams at the All-Ohio Championships in Cedarville Friday afternoon.
The Polar Bears (22-1 overall) finished with 67 points.
No. 17-ranked Mount Union took first place with 60 points, Northern finished second with 67 points, and John Carroll took third place with 100 points.
Harden took 26th place overall out of 287 runners from across all three divisions.
The senior led Northern across the finish line in 26:00.9.
Junior Matt Molinaro (Sterling Heights, Mich./DeLaSalle) also posted a top-10 finish for the Polar Bears, finishing ninth in 26:29.1.
Senior Kase Schalois (Van Wert/Van Wert) and junior Bobby Borger (Perrysburg/Perrysburg) posted top-20 finishes for Northern as Schalois finished 12th in 26:40.2 and Borger finished 19th in 26:45.3.
Senior Cully Gordon (Holmesville/West Holmes) finished 24th among Div. III runners in 26:58.8, while sophomore Ian McVey (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) took 25th place in 26:58.9.
Also posting a top-7 finish for the Polar Bears was junior Samuel Boyd (Killbuck/West Holmes), finishing 47th in 27:48.9.
The Polar Bears will return to action Saturday, Oct. 15 as they travel to Oshkosh (Wis.) to compete in the Oshkosh Invitational at 12:15 pm.
Team Standings
1. #17 Mount Union 60, 2. Ohio Northern 67, 3. John Carroll 100, 4. Case Western 120, 5. Otterbein 162, 6. Oberlin 167, 7. Ohio Wesleyan 195, 8. Denison 202, 9. Baldwin Wallace 212, 10. Bluffton 259, 11. Kenyon 310, 12. Wooster 311, 13. Wittenberg 331, 14. Capital 395, 15. Heidelberg 417, 16. Muskingum 495
Top 5 Individual Results
1. Sam Merriman (Case Western) 25:33.3, 2. John Sotos (Ohio Wesleyan) 25:41.6, 3. Andrew Harden 26:00.9, 4. Preston Myers (Mount Union) 26:02.9, 5. Galen Caldwell (Case Western) 26:05.5
Ohio Northern Individual Results
3. Andrew Harden 26:00.9, 9. Matt Molinaro 26:29.1, 12. Kase Schalois 26:40.2, 19. Bobby Borger 26:45.3, 24. Cully Gordon 26:58.8, 25. Ian McVey 26:58.9, 47. Samuel Boyd 27:48.9