The men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind. to compete in the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. The meet occurred towards the end of fall break on Saturday, October 27. All 10 schools that are members of the conference competed. Kenyon College, located in Gambier, Ohio, swept the event, taking home championship trophies in both the men’s and women’s divisions. This was Kenyon’s third consecutive men’s title and the second women’s title in the past 10 years.
The Yeomen placed fifth out of the 10 teams, while the Yeowomen bested them by one, finishing fourth. For the men the fifth place finish was a slightly disappointing result. Other teams finishing ahead of the Yeomen included Allegheny College, Wabash College, and second-place finisher The College of Wooster. At the beginning of the year the team believed that it could compete for one of the top two spots in the championship, but the Yeomen accumulated a total of 113 points — a full 85 points behind Kenyon.
On the bright side, first-year Ryan McGinnis was named second team all-conference. McGinnis finished ninth overall with a blazing time of 27:02. This finish earned him the Newcomer of the Year Award as well.
Kenyon placed four runners on the first team all-conference. Sophomore Adam Greeney was named honorable mention all-conference, finishing with a time of 27:20. Other top finishers for the Yeomen included fifth-year Jon Rogers who placed 22nd overall. Finishing a surprising fourth for the Yeomen was first-year Ben Stanley, who finished 32nd overall. Finishing right behind Stanley was senior Hans Petersen, sophomore Alex Scally, usually one of the team’s best runners, finished a disappointing 47th. Scally has been nagged by injuries all year long and was not one hundred percent going into the match.
The Yeowomen finished fourth overall. Finishing second and third were Allegheny College and Denison University, respectively. Leading the team was junior Laura Feeney, who finished fourth overall with an amazing time of 19:29. She was named to the first-team all conference. First-year Abi Grestle of Wittenberg College finished first, just 20 seconds before Feeney. Other all-conference runners for the Yeowomen included sophomore Julia Goeke and junior Lori Tuchfeld — both finished as second-team all-conference. Tuchfeld finished 8th overall with a time of 19:42. Goeke finished with a flat 20 minutes in 13th place.

Finishing fourth for the Yeowomen was junior Kyle McKenzie who ran a solid race and ended up in 29th place with a time of 20:38. Placing fifth was first-year Shannon Morris. She finished 36th overall with a time of 21:05. These five runners—Feeney, Tuchfeld, Goeke, McKenzie, and Morris—have been the top five runners for the squad all season long and all of these women are returning next year. With the addition of some quality recruits the team should compete for the Conference crown next year.
The men’s team will return all of their top runners with the exception of Peterson and Rogers, both of whom will be lost to graduation. McGinnis should anchor the squad and with some good newcomers next year’s team should be able to match or better the performance of this year’s.