#17 Men's Cross Country opens 2017 campaign by winning the 8-team Bluffton 6k
By Tim Glon
BLUFFTON — The No. 17-ranked Ohio Northern men's cross country team opened its 2017 campaign by winning the 8-team Bluffton 6k on Friday at the Bluffton Nature Preserve.
The Polar Bears (7-0) finished with 56 points, Findlay was second with 81 and Heidelberg was third with 82 points.
Junior Ian McVey (Stow/Munroe Falls) led Ohio Northern across the finish line in second place in 18:40, finishing first among NCAA Division III runners.
Senior Bobby Borger (Perrysburg) was eighth in 19:09 and senior Sam Boyd (Killbuck/West Holmes) was ninth in 19:16 for ONU.
A team of Polar Bear alumni actually won the race with an impressive 37 points, but their scores did not count in the official standings.
"Our men had a good race," said head coach Jason Maus. "We were very solid up front, and we kind of expected that. The guys we expected to do well, did really well. This was a good test for the rest of the guys to see where they are at and where they need to be. Overall it was just a great race on both sides for us. Having the alumni show up like they did really shows what this culture is about and I think that says a lot to our team and they support they receive."
The Polar Bears will return to action Sept. 9 at the Calvin (Mich.) Invitational.
Team Standings
1. Ohio Northern Alumni 37, 2. Ohio Northern 56, 3. Findlay 81, 4. Heidelberg 82, 5. Ohio Christian 135, 6. Tiffin 143, 7. Bluffton 174, 8, Indiana-Kokomo 239, 9. Defiance 282.
Top 5 Invididuals
1. James Ngandu (Tiff) 18:28, 2. Ian McVey (ONU) 18:40, 3. Austin Neura (Berg) 18:43, 4. Kase Schalois (ONUAlum) 18:50, 5. Eric Wymer (ONUAlum) 18:51.
Ohio Northern Individual Results
2. Ian McVey 18:40, 8. Bobby Borger 19:09, 9. Sam Boyd 19:16, 13. Spencer Schulze 19:29, 24. Riley Lamison 20:05, 25. Jordan Green 20:05, 26. John McNutt 20:08, 27. Andrew Shelton 20:12, 30. Bryan Peck 20:17, 31. Alec Lunney 20:19, 32. Logan Perry 20:21, 33. Dylan McKean 20:21, 36. Travis Sutter 20:31, 43. Sam Krabacher 20:45, 45. Evan Murtha 20:48, 49. Kyle Neff 20:53, 58. Alessandro Tramontano 21:11, 62. Nicholas DeVore 21:17, 65. Dominic Solis 21:21, 69. Tyler Kennedy 21:31, 70. Jack Borden 21:39, 79. Jacob Gallaher 22L01, 82, Jackson Brandstaetter 22:17, 84. Michael Murray 22:23, 85. Dustin Lumadue 22:44.
Ohio Northern Alumni Results
4. Kase Schalois 18:50, 5. Eric Wymer 18:51, 7. Cully Gordon 18:56, 10. Nate Rosenbaum 19:21, 11. Andy Harden 19:23, 35. Cameron Rusnak 20:27, 42. Kenton Holliday 20:44, 76. Dan Sowa 21:54, 89. Ryan Valentine 22:57, 95. Dan Steigerwald 23:41, 97. Evan Muscarella 23:55, 100. Michael Potter 24:27, 103. Matt Ernstes 24:37, 104. Jon Wherry 24:39, 112. Greg Krasnoschlik 26:25, 117. Stephen Hailer 42:28.
