BEREA, OH--The Baldwin-Wallace College men's and women's cross country teams travel to Ada and Ohio Northern University tomorrow (Saturday, November 16) to compete at the 2002 NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Meet. It is an exciting time for the Yellow Jacket men and women.
The B-W women have placed in the top two in the last three Great Lakes Regional meets and have advanced to the NCAA Division III national meet each year. This year, B-W is having another outstanding season and is looking at unseating perennial Great Lakes Region champion Calvin College of Michigan.
"Calvin is the annual champion of the Great Lakes Region," said Yellow Jacket senior two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference runner Jessica Textoris (Akron/ Medina Highland). "We have great respect for Calvin, but at the same time, we are proud of what we have accomplished this year and we want to take it to the next level. To take it to the next level means running as well as we can at the Great Lakes Regional Meet and hopefully beating Calvin.
"Every person in our program has improved so much this year and from last year," said Textoris. "We are one, big, happy family. We set this as one of our top goals at the beginning of the season and now the meet is here. We are very excited."
Running at ONU may be interesting as the tempetures in Ada are expected to be in the mid to upper 30s with a possibility of snow showers. "If it snows, so be it," continues Textoris. "Two years ago, at the national meet in Spokane, Washington, we ran in almost a foot of snow. It is not the ideal conditions for us but we will make the best of it. We are committed to doing our best whatever the weather conditions."
A top two finish again would gaurantee B-W a fourth straight trip to the national meet. Last year, B-W placed 20th at the national meet. Two years ago, it was a school all-time best 12th. B-W was also 18th in 1999. Since 1993, B-W has placed in the top four every year at the Great Lakes Regional Meet.
In addition to Textoris, seniors Nicole Drouhard (Canfield/ Austintown Fitch) and Lynn Katanik (Parma Padua) are returning All-Great Lakes Region runners. The Yellow Jacket men will be led by seniors Brad Geletka (Kirtland) and Mike Miklavcic (Euclid) and junior Bob Magyar (Lyndhurst/ Brush).
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Two weeks ago, the B-W women's team won its fourth straight OAC title and the men placed fifth. Leading the way for the B-W women was Jessica Textoris as she placed second individually of 135 runners with a time of 19:16.4. Textoris was joined as an All-OAC runner (Top 10 finish) by Nicole Drouhard in third place in 19:26.9, Lynn Katanik in sixth place in 19:37.0 and junior Jen Southall (Willoughby South) in 10th place in 19:49.2 overall. Overall, the Yellow Jacket women had 10 of the top 23 runners in the meet.
For Drouhard, it marked the fourth straight year that she has earned All-OAC honors. It was the third time for Katanik and second for Textoris. Textoris has also led all Yellow Jacket women in all eight meets so far this year.
The B-W men placed fifth of 10 schools and were led by Brad Geletka, who placed 11th and narrowly missed making All-OAC honors was timed in 26:17.3 overall. The B-W women have won six meet titles this fall. The titles were at CWRU, the Division III crown at BGSU, Otterbein, Ohio Northern, the All-Ohio at OWU and the OAC crown. Jessica Textoris has led the women and Brad Geletka has led the men in all eight meets this year.
FOR MORE INFORMATION on B-W Sports Information, please call the SID Office at (440) 826-2327, FAX us at (440) 826-2329 or e-mail SID Kevin Ruple at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Cross Country Coach Bill Taraschke, please call him at (440) 826-3322, FAX him at (440) 826-2192 or e-mail him at wtarasch@bw.edu. For all of the latest Yellow Jacket cross country information and news, please log onto our web site at www.bw.edu/athletics and then go to the cross country page.
275 Eastland Rd.