Cross country team holds its own at Wooster

The cross country team conquered the "Kahuna" last Saturday.

The Yeomen and Yeowomen raced through the Wooster Invitational at the College of Wooster. The course included the large hill named "Kahuna," which loomed over the women in their final mile and the men in their third and fifth miles.

The women scored 128 points to finish fifth, the men tallied 251 placing them ninth out of eleven teams.

At Wooster, the strategy for the two teams was to start slow, as both courses began with flat or downhill first miles and save their energy for the end, where they could pass runners on the hills.

This strategy would also give the team a psychological advantage of passing runners, as opposed to being passed.

"It is really satisfying, starting at the back and passing everybody," co-captain junior Rachel Sims said.

The field was the strongest that the team has faced. Mt. Union College, the number two team in Division III, ran away with the men's field with a score of 33.

"It was a tough race, real tough," first-year Kristian Whitsett said.

It was a hot day on a hard course. No one on the men's team improved their times from the Allegheny meet.

First-year John Rogers the strongest Yeoman runner, finished 16th, at 27:53 with a strong performance according to teammate sophomore Colin Fishwick and Coach Tom Mulligan.

Last week at Allegheny College, Rogers took fourth out of approximately 80 runners.

Following Rogers, Fishwick and senior Max Rankenberg paced each other through most of the race. Rankenberg finished in 44th place in 28:57 and Fishwick ended up in 54th place with a time of 29:13.

Rounding out the Oberlin's scoring top five were senior James Quinn, 95th place, 30:55 and Whitsett, 109th place, 31:42.

Sophomore Mark Sasaki finished 123rd with a 32:43 and senior Noah Kraut took 126th place with a 32:58.

"The team will do a lot better when [senior Harsha Thirumurthy and first-year David Bevacqua] return," Whitsett said. "James and I are there behind them to back them up."

Coach Mulligan said, "[On the two teams], everyone is enthusiastic about coming to practice, getting the most out of each practice."

The coach noted the inter-workings of the team and how even the enthusiasm of the newest runner carries over to the fastest runners.

"Having Noah [Kraut] working really hard has an effect on John Roger's performance," Mulligan said. "Having Noah psyched up, helps our number-one runner get pumped for a race."

The Yeowomen were propelled to fifth by the running pack of first-years Jenni Huelsman and Beth Spalding and sophomore Lisa Mickley. Huelsman finished in 20:41, Mickley in 20:48 and Spalding in 20:50 to take 13th, 16th, and 18th places respectively.

Junior China Weber finished 38th at 21:17 and co-captain junior Rachel Sims took 43rd with a 21:36 to round out the Yeowomen top five.

"We ran the race smart," Sims said. "Passing lots of people on the tops of the hills. No one passed me at the finish."

The rest of the Yeowomen finished well, first-year Ket Ashfield took 72nd and co-captain junior Katy Jones took 74th.

First-years Miriam Hellweg and Jessica Kennedy took 92nd and 112 out of 134 runners.

Both the men's and the women's teams achieved these results while missing top runners.

These included Sophomore Rebecca Grossman and senior Trista Thornberry on the women's team and senior Harsha Thirumurthy and first-year David Bevacqua on the men's team.

Grossman, Thirumurthy and Bevacqua are out with injuries, while Thornberry just joined the team.

About this time in the season runners get worried about fatiguing their legs.

Bevacqua was out of the meet, nursing a lower-leg problem. Mulligan hopes that Bevacqua can run in next week's All-Ohio meet.

With Conference Championships a month away, now is not the time to suffer an injury. This is why many runners at this time, decide to jog in the pool or ride the bike.

"In the pool I feel like a goof," first-year Kristian Whitsett said. "Running in the water and just bobbing up and down."

The team is going to Earlham College, in its invitational this Saturday, to get a feel for the course on which Conference Championships will be run.

"The last thing you want to do during a race is not knowing what's going on," Sims said referring to team inspections of the courses during warm-ups. "Cutting out uncertainty. Make sure we don't get lost."

The Yeomen and women will compete against many Indiana colleges and two conference opponents.

For the men, Thirumurthy will run the first three miles of the race to test the waters for the first time this season.

This meet is the first time all the women are running

Grossman has recovered from a broken toe and senior Trista Thornberry is running in the meet, after training with the team for a week.

"I am really excited to see what we can do," co-captain junior Rachel Sims said. "We have Trista and Becca back. They are both damn fast."