Personal-best times lead Men's Cross Country to 9th-place finish at Great Lakes Regional Championships
By Brandt Marshall
HOLLAND, Mich. — The Ohio Northern men's cross country team finished ninth out of 38 teams at the Great Lakes Regional Championships at Three Fires Golf Club on a cold Saturday afternoon.
All seven ONU runners posted personal-best times, and Northern's ninth place finish extended its streak to 18 straight years with a top-10 finish at the Regional Championships.
The Polar Bears (111-37 overall) scored 346 points and were led by junior Kyle Roth (Rockford/Parkway), who finished in 47th place in a time of 25:18.6.
Sophomore Ryan Massie (Beavercreek) ran a time of 25:27.9 and finished 63rd, and senior Breydan Hann (Wooster) finished 66th in a time of 25:29.2.
Sophomores Trey Masterson (Tiffin/Hopewell-Loudon) and Corey Rinehart (Galena/Olentangy Berlin) rounded out the team score with respective 72nd- and 103rd-place finishes in times of 25:32.2 and 26:01.1.
Also competing for the Polar Bears were juniors Jared Swartz (Columbia Station/Columbia) and Braden Schaser (Fostoria/Lakota), who finished 107th and 121st overall with times of 26:03.8 and 26:18.3, respectively.
"The men's race was not pretty for us, but we battled the entire way," ONU head coach Jason Maus said. "We found a way to keep our streak alive, 18 straight years in the top 10 of the region. Ryan Massie was the difference-maker for us today."
Junior Alex Philip of John Carroll won the individual title in 23:56.7, taking home back-to-back regional champion honors.
Team Standings
1. #14 John Carroll 48, 2. #15 Case Western Reserve 65 , 3. #35 Mount Union 108, 4. #20 Otterbein 115, 5. #32 Calvin 141, 6. #27 Wilmington 242, 7. Hope 247, 8. DePauw 304, 9. Ohio Northern 346, 10. Oberlin 348, 11. Trine 353, 12. Centre 358, 13. Baldwin Wallace 456, 14. Franciscan 489, 15. Denison 495, 16. Heidelberg 530, 17. Wabash 539, 18. Manchester 557, 19. Allegheny 584, 20. Rose-Hulman 593, 21. Berea 595, 22. Kenyon 621, 23. Adrian 628, 24. Wooster 662, 25. Ohio Wesleyan 674, 26. Wittenberg 693, 27. Franklin 704, 28. Olivet 712, 29. Transylvania 827, 30. Anderson (Ind.) 864, 31. Muskingum 866, 32. Hanover 932, 33. Kalamazoo 936, 34. Bluffton 951, 35. Alma 962, 36. Earlham 1060, 37. Albion 1105, 38. Marietta 1233.
Top 10 Finishers
1.Alex Phillip (John Carroll) 23;56.7, 2. Simon Heys (Wilmington) 24;23.0, 3. Jack Begley (Case Western) 24:26.8, 4. Joseph Jaster (Case Western) 24:27.7, 5. Brandan Knepper (Calvin) 24:28.7, 6. Barrett Scheatzle (John Carroll) 24:30.1, 7. Joe Backus (John Carroll) 24:32.3, 8. Connor Vachon (Hope) 24:33.8, 9. Jeff Joseph (Mount Union) 24:34.7 10. Robert St. Clair 24:34.8.
Ohio Northern Results
47. Kyle Roth 25:18.6, 63. Ryan Massie 25:27.9, 66. Breydan Hann 25:29.2, 72. Trey Masterson 25:32.2, 103. Corey Rinehart 26:01.1, 107. Jared Swartz 26:03.8, 121. Braden Schaser 26:18.3