Women's Cross Country wins All-Ohio

The women's cross country team won the All-Ohio Championship last weekend in Cedarville, Ohio. They defeated
43 schools from around the state and finished with a low score of 91 points. The men's team had a top-10 finish, placing ninth out of 44 teams with a score of 239 points.
Head coach Ryan Orner was particularly pleased with how the women's team performed. "I think the women's team ran
phenomenal this weekend. In the 59-year history of this race, our women's team had never won it, so this is a huge accomplishment," Orner said. Leading the women's team was junior Clare Fischer, who finished in third place with a time of
17:53. Fischer now has the secondfastest 5,000-meter cross country time in the program's history. Her last two races have been two of the fastest ten races in program history.
"It's a great accomplishment for her and I think that this is just the tip of the iceberg for her. She has a lot of great running ahead of her and I think that she can break the record in the next meet," Orner said. Following Clare Fischer was her twin sister Abby Fischer, who finished in ninth place with a time
of 18:25. Abby Fischer has only run in two meets this season due to injury and is starting to be a strong member of the team again. Not far behind the Fischer twins was fellow junior Chelsea Hoffmaster, who finished in 18:34, which landed her in 12th place. Hoffmaster set her new personal record in this race. On the men's side, junior Tom Ohlman and senior Hank Geer finished back-to-back to take fifth and sixth place, respectively. Ohlman crossed the line in 24:45 and Geer was one second behind him in the 8,000- meter race. This race continued Ohlman's streak of finishing every race this season in the top six. The next Musketeer, senior Ben Foley, finished slightly over a minute later, finishing with a time of 25:50. "The team was really fatigued during the race because they've been training hard for the last few weeks," Orner said. "It was a hard day for a lot of them but it's going to get them ready in time for the Atlantic 10 championships." Junior Spencer Liechty set a new personal record in this meet by running a time of 26:13. Liechty finished in a tight pack but was able to outkick the three other runners. The Musketeers are off this weekend, but they will return to action on Oct. 13 to compete in pre-nationals in Louisville, Ky. Pre-Nationals will be a good chance for the team to race on the same course that will host the NCAA Championships and will allow the team to race against some of the best teams in the country.