Women's cross country team continues to excel

The Yeorunners brought a few less people to the Ohio Northern Invitational this past Saturday. But those that did attend continued the strong showing that has become the cross country team's trademark this season.

Due to the suspension handed out to the men's team last week, only the Yeowomen competed. They were unfazed by the unfortunate incident however, placing second in the four team meets which fielded 49 runners. Host Ohio Northern took first place overall, sweeping the top six spots. Oberlin rounded out the last three places in the top ten, with junior Medora Lytle again leading the Yeorunners, this time at eighth. Sophomore Rebecca Grossman took ninth and first-year Rachel Simhon tenth.

Lytle wears a pair of "funky, technicolor socks" at each race which may contribute to her continued success. This differs greatly from men's team member first-year Nate Gross', technique, which requires "searing and consuming the still beating heart of a young gopher to appease the running gods."

On a relatively sane note, Lytle led an Oberlin team that is doing exactly what head coach Tom Mulligan had in mind from day one, hitting the top of their game by mid-October. Simhon's performance at this past meet epitomizes the general success of the team.

The junior took twenty-two seconds off her previous best. In addition, both the men's and women's squads have been staying relatively injury free or running through more minor ones. "This is the part of the season people look forward to with championships at the end of the month," Mulligan said. "We've been coming along very nicely and hopefully we can stay the course."

Mulligan feels this weekend's All-Ohio meet will help both first-years and vets get geared up for championship time. The meet includes many schools from the state, including Division I and II schools. "Which makes it fun to see how you stack up against scholarship athletes," Mulligan said. Three teams from the conference and five from the region will also be in attendance, giving Oberlin a better picture of how they are stacking up against opponents.

Even with the season half over, Mulligan is still hesitant to speculate as to how Oberlin will place in the final standings. "On the women's side, it's a dogfight between Wooster, Case Western, Kenyon and Denison for the top four spots," Mulligan said. "Which is not to say one can't stumble and another team can't slip into one of the top spots."

First-year Hans Petersen echoed his coaches sentiments. "It's kind of like a bad hair day," Petersen said "Runners and teams can have bad race days. And in that case, we could take advantage." Lytle agrees saying, "Anything can happen. Wooster has a dynasty of sorts in the making, but if we have a good race [at the NCAC championships], we can definitely threaten."