Men's Cross Country finishes 6th of 17 teams at Williams (Mass.) Classic

By Tim Glon

WILLIAMS, Mass. — The Ohio Northern men's cross country team finished sixth of 17 teams at the Williams (Mass.) Purple Valley Classic on Saturday.

The Polar Bears (26-11) finished with 145 points.

No. 11-ranked Williams (Mass.) won the meet with 39 points, No. 9 Middlebury (Vt.) was second with 72 points, No. 19 New York U. was third with 85 points and NCAA Division I Fordham was fourth with 96 points.

Junior Mark Berton and sophomore Nathan Rosenbaum each posted top-20 finishes in the 208-man field.

Berton finished 17th on the 8,000-meter course in 26:56 and Rosenbaum was 18th in 27:00.

Senior Michael Simmons was 28th in 27:13, junior Evan McKee was 35th in 27:32 and senior Kenton Holliday was 57th in 27:57.

Ben Wallis, running as an individual from Tufts (Mass.), won the individual title in 26:13.

The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday at the All-Ohio Championships at Cedarville.

Team Standings

1. #11 Williams (Mass.) 39, 2. #9 Middlebury (Vt.) 72, 3. #19 New York U. 85, 4. Fordham 96, 5. #35 MIT 137, 6. Ohio Northern 145, 7. Connecticut College 210, 8. Coldy (Mass.) 251, 9. Oneonta State (N.Y.) 267, 11. Springfield (Mass.) 298, 11. Oberlin 305, 12. RPU (N.Y) 344, 13. Hamilton (N.Y.) 366, 14. Utica (N.Y.) 386, 15. New York Tech 477, 16. Manhattanville (N.Y.) 512, 17. Lasell (Mass.) 527.

Top 5 Individuals

1. Ben Wallis (Tufts) 26:13, 2. Scott Rodilitz (Williams) 26:17, 3. Patrick Hebble (Middlebury) 26:20, 4. Michael Turi (Fordham) 26:21, 5. Sebastian Oja (NYU) 26:22.

Ohio Northern Individual Results

17. Mark Berton 26:56, 18. Nathan Rosenbaum 27:00, 28. Michael Simmons 27:13, 35. Evan McKee 27:32, 57. Kenton Holliday 27:57, 69. Tyler Feisthans 28:05, 76. Jeff Denny 28:13, 78. Eric Wymer 28:15, 113. Ian Anderson 28:49, 140. Kenton Holliday 29:35