BW Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Teams Ready for OAC Championship Meet
BEREA, OHIO — The Baldwin Wallace University women’s and men’s cross country teams travel to Marietta, Ohio on Saturday, November 1, 2008 to compete at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship Meet near Marietta College. The Yellow Jacket women are the defending OAC champions.
Fans can access all of the 2008 OAC Cross Country Championship Information here. (Championship Web site)
“We are looking forward to the OAC Championship Meet for a number of reasons,” said Head Coach Dr. Bill Taraschke, who has led 45 Yellow Jacket cross country and track teams to OAC titles and has been named as a coach-of-the-year in the OAC 34 times. “Our women’s team is as healthy as it has been all season, and our men’s team is better. We think that we could have a very good day. We are looking forward to the challenge.”
The Yellow Jacket women enter the meet as the defending champions and have won 15 of the 23 OAC titles since the OAC began sponsoring women’s championship events in 1985. This year’s team has an excellent chance to make it 16 of the past 24 years.
Leading the way, despite having only competed in one meet this season is senior three-time All-OAC runner Ashley Scullion (Kentwood, Michigan/ East Kentwood). Scullion also has plenty of help as both junior D’Arcy Hlavin (Berea) and sophomore Karin Coyne (Columbia Station) are back as returning All-OAC runners from a year ago.
Scullion was the OAC individual runner-up as both a freshman and sophomore and placed fourth last fall. Injuries have dogged her the past two years, but when she runs it makes the whole team better. Hlavin paced fifth last year and Coyne was seventh. Both join Scullion as legitimate contenders for this year’s individual championship.
In addition to the returning All-OAC trio, look for junior Brittany Giesken (Ottawa/ Ottawa Glandorf), sophomores Kim Chinn (Zanesville/ West Muskingum) and Katie White (Berea) and freshman Krysten Kovach (North Royalton/ Parma Padua) to all push the top runners.
“We are hoping that our number three, four and five runners will be closer to our top two,” said Taraschke. “That will improve our team total. We need our underclassmen to step up. D’Arcy Hlavin is our most consistent runer and could challenge for the individual title.”
The BW men are led by seniors Nate Bowen (Fremont/ Ross) and Derek Hill (Fremont/ Ross). The duo have led the team each of the past three years and are two of the best in the OAC this fall. In seven meets this season, Hill has led the team on five occassions and Bowen twice. But, for the BW men to crack the top two spots at the OAC meet, it will take some help from others.
In addition, look for juniors Jimmy Eberts (North Canton/ Hoover), Mark Buhoveckey (Brunswick/ Parma Padua), Brian Campbell (Berea) and Jeff Bonezzi (Medina/ Senior) all to receive challenges from freshmen Zachary Szablewski (Tiffin/ Calvert), Tom Wilkin (Powell/ Olentangy Liberty), Drew Beck (Canandaigua, N.Y./ Academy) and Mike Sisko (Olmsted Falls) for places three through five.
“Derek and Nate have had great years,” said Taraschke. “Our team is much better than a year ago and we have a great chance to crack the top three teams. We need our number three, four and five runners to get closer to Derek and Nate. Some of our undersclassmen are ready to take over some of the spots in the top five.”
Following the OAC Championship Meet, the Yellow Jackets will have a week off before competing at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Meet on Saturday, November 15 at Otterbein College in Westerville. Depending on how either the team or select BW individuals finish, the 2008 NCAA Division III National Championship Meet is one week later on Saturday, Nov. 22 at Hanover College of Indiana.
For complete Yellow Jacket results, please view the 2008 Season Bests on the BW Athletics Web site by logging on at www.bw.edu/athletics/cc/stats/ and then click onto 2008-2009 Season Bests.
FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact BW Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple at 440-826-2327 or e-mail him at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Coach Bill Taraschke, please call 440-826-3322 or e-mail wtarasch@bw.edu. You can get all of the latest BW athletics information and news by logging onto our athletics Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics. Then go onto the HomePage of your favorite team(s).