Leon, Beecham Lead Ohio at Regionals
 
Both men's and women's teams record top-15 finishes at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional

 
 
 

 
Craig Leon, left at the MAC Championship, captured 15th at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in Bloomington, Ind.
 

 

Nov. 10, 2007

Men's Results Get Acrobat Reader | Women's Results Get Acrobat Reader

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Another successful Ohio cross country season came to a fantastic finish on Saturday afternoon at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in Bloomington, Ind. Senior Craig Leon and sophomore Annie Beecham paced their respective teams to top-15 finishes among 30 competing universities.

Leon (Van Wert) finished 15th overall, leading the Ohio men's cross country team to a 14th place with his time of 31:17.57. Eastern Michigan, which won the men's MAC Championship two weeks ago, took seventh overall.

Ridge Robinson (Navarre) took 58th, Shamus Eaton (Uniontown) finished 71st, Scott Meyers (Xenia) crossed the finish line in 105th and rounding Ohio's scoring top-five was Todd Hollbrook (Dayton) in 120th. Kevin Dean (Granville) in 139th and Brian King (Richfield, Minn.) in 154th were Ohio's sixth and seventh best placers.

Wisconsin and Michigan tied for the men's team title with each squad totaling 68 team points. The Badgers' Matt Withrow was the top finisher amongst the winning teams, with Notre Dame's Patrick Smyth taking the individual title with a time of 30:22.44 in the 10k event.

Beecham (Granville) led a pack of Ohio student-athletes in the 6k race, including Kari Summers (Troy) and Carime Reinhart (Boscom). Beecham took 38th with a time of 22.03.76, just seconds ahead of Summers and Reinhart in 41st and 42nd, respectively.

Julia Weisenborn (Bowling Green) in 75th and Rachael Beakas in 90th (Waterville) rounded out Ohio's scoring five while Kendra Churchill (Bowling Green) in 131st and Melissa Hornor (Hilliard) in 145th also crossed the finish line for the Bobcats.

Michigan State took first overall in the women's team standings with 60 points. Michigan captured second with 63 team points. The Wolverines' Nicole Edwards took the individual title with a time of 20:30.76.

To qualify for nationals a runner had to be a member of one of the top two teams overall or one of the top four individual finishers that is not a member of one of the top-two squads.

Qualifying this year from the Great Lakes Regional for the men are Wisconsin and Michigan plus Smyth, Butler's Andy Baker, Notre Dame's Jake Watson and Indiana's Jordan Kyle.

Making the trip to Terre Haute, Ind. for Nationals from the Great Lakes women's race will be Michigan State and Michigan plus Wisconsin's Hanna Grinaker, Miami (Ohio) runner Laura Neufarth, Ball State's Alison Bishel and Valparaiso's Laura Rolf.