BEREA, OHIO -- Both the women’s and men’s cross country teams will look to contend for an OAC title in 2004. The women are coming off a year in which they finished fourth in the OAC and fifth at the NCAA Regional Cross Country Championships. The men will look to improve upon last year’s sixth place finish at the OAC meet and 15th at the regional meet.
If the women’s team is to contend for a title, they will have to do it without All-OAC runner Jennifer Southall, who graduated. This will be the first season since 1991 that the women’s team does not return a runner who earned All-OAC honors the year before; however, the women’s team returns a solid and experienced core group of runners, lead by senior Lisa Bartkiewicz (Berea), who finished 13th at last year’s OAC Championship Meet.
Other returning letterwinners include seniors Lindsay Bukovec (Willowick/Eastlake North) and Jamie Luketic (Rootstown) and sophomores Rihana Knotts (Middletown/Madison) and Megan Via (Brookville). At the OAC Championships Luketic finished 16th, Knotts 20th, Via 22nd and Bukovec did not compete due to injury.
The men’s team is young, but experienced, due to the fact that there were only three seniors on the team last season. The men’s team will be anchored by sophomore Chris Buhoveckey (Brunswick/Parma Padua) who was the team’s number one runner last season and finished 19th at last year’s OAC Championships. He also finished 34th out of 225 runners at the regional meet.
Returning letterwinnners include sophomores Jake Hatmaker (Ashtabula/Lakeside), Nile Smith (Killbuck/Millersburg West Holmes), and John Townsend (Chardon). The men will also get some depth with the return of senior Brian Dotson (Painesville/Harvey), who returned to the track team last season, and competed in the 5000 and 10000 meter runs.
Dotson had the top finish for the Yellow Jackets at the 2001 OAC Championships, finishing in 16th with a time of 27:27.76. Both teams open up the season Saturday, September 4 at the Case Western Reserve Invitational, which begins at 11:00 a.m.
FOR MORE INFORMATION on Baldwin-Wallace College athletics, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact B-W Head Coach Bill Taraschke, please call him at 440-826-3322, FAX him at 440-826-2192 or e-mail him at wtarasch@bw.edu.
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