Women's Cross Country Looks to Defend MAC Title
 
MAC XC Championship

 
 
 

 
Carime Reinhart will look to join the MAC elite when she attempts to become just the fourth women's runner in conference history to win two MAC titles.
 

 

Oct. 24, 2007

Full Color Release in PDF Format | MAC Championship Record Book
Download Free Acrobat Reader

ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio women's cross country team hopes to repeat their dominating performance of last year and defend their title as they head to Central Michigan for the MAC Championship this weekend.

"We are coming off a great season last year and our expectations are high for the MAC Championship," said head coach Clay Calkins. "We had a great race last season with Carime winning individually, and we hope to repeat that success."

Senior Carime Reinhart (Boscom) won by 35 seconds and her teammates finished third, sixth, 12th and 15th last year for a total team score of 37, an all-time MAC record for a 12-team field. The dominance was apparent in Bowling Green's distant second place score of 113.

The women's team's strong season includes a first place finish at the Mel Brodt Invite at Bowling Green, a second place finish at the Ohio Invitational in Athens and another second place finish at the All-Ohio Championship in Delaware, Ohio.

The Bobcats, the preseason favorite in the MAC coaches poll, will run a 5K beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27, at Riverwood Resort in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

The Ohio men's cross country will also compete in this weekend's MAC Championship at Central Michigan. The Bobcats finished fifth last year with a 158 team score. Senior Brian King (Richfield, Minn.) was the top finisher for Ohio in 13th place. He and the other top five finishers for Ohio last year return for this season's meet and will be bolstered by the addition of this year's standout, senior Craig Leon (Van Wert), who redshirted last season.
 

 

"We have a couple of great front runners with Craig Leon and Brian King," said Coach Clay Calkins. "We hope they can lead us and have a great race and place high in the MAC standings."

Ohio and the rest of the MAC look to dethrone two-time defending men's champion Eastern Michigan. The Eagles set a MAC record last year for the lowest team score at 23.

The Ohio men have two second place team finishes this year at the Mel Brodt Invite and the All-Ohio Invitational. They also finished third at the All-Ohio Championship.

The race will be an 8K run and begin at noon Saturday.

The conference championship is not the end of the season for the `Cats, who, if qualified individually, will compete in the NCAA Regional and Nationals on Nov. 10 and Nov. 19, respectively.

----------------------------

Joe Waltasti is the cross country contact in the Ohio media relations office. He can be reached via email at waltasti@ohio.edu and in the office at 740-593-0054.