Sports
Bobcat Cross Country Hosts 2015 Ohio Invitational
By: Bianca Long
Posted on:
After a successful start to the 2015 season, the Ohio cross country teams return to Athens to host the Ohio Invitational on Friday.
The event will serve as the Bobcats’ second meet of the season and only home meet.
Both the men and women’s teams are coming off impressive performances at the Dayton Flyer 5K with the men winning the meet over Miami, Dayton and Ohio State. Meanwhile the women claimed second.
The men are looking to extend their home-turf dominance and capture another title at their home meet for the sixth consecutive year.
Last year, the Bobcats dominated West Virginia Wesleyan, finishing the race with 13 runners in the top-15. Five of the top-10 finishers from last year’s race will be competing again.
This year, the men’s team looks to run well with their key returners in Alex Wind, Brad Miller and Jake Gentile. Gentile won last year’s 8K race with a time of 26:19.25.
Senior Jarrod Genther and freshman Kyle Bussard also ran well for the team at the Flyer 5K, and will help the team defend their title and win their second meet in a row.
As for the women’s team, they finished second overall behind Miami, beating Ball State and West Virginia Wesleyan at the Bobcats’ 2014 invitational. The women had six runners finish in the top-15, and got a third place finish from Kayla Scott with a time of 22:55.60 in the 6K run.
Ellen Atkinson, Ellen Page and Tara Tollett are all coming off of great performances from their first meet, and look to run well and solidify a team home victory.
The women’s race begins 3 p.m. and the men’s race begins at 4 p.m. at the Ohio University Golf Course.