Bobcats Post Top Ten Finishes at Notre Dame Invitational :: Four Bobcat runners finished in the top ten individually

Oct. 3, 2008

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The men's and women's cross country teams ran in the Notre Dame Invitational this afternoon in South Bend, Ind. Both teams finished in the top ten, with the men placing seventh and the women sixth out of 23 schools.

Leading the men were junior Ridge Robinson and senior Shamus Eaton, taking seventh and 10th, respectively. Robinson, a native of Navarre, Ohio, posted a time of 25:06, with Eaton right behind with a time of 25:09. They led the `Cats in finishing ahead of Akron and just behind Central Michigan, who finished sixth, the only other MAC schools competing.

"Central Michigan finished just ahead of us, and we beat Akron, which is promising," noted head coach Clay Calkins. "As the year goes on, hopefully we can overcome more teams and move up in the conference. We have some work to do, but it can be accomplished."

In the women's race, junior All-MAC runner Kari Summers once again led Ohio, coming in third with a time of 17:41. Fellow junior and All-MAC honoree Annie Beecham (Granville, Ohio) took sixth, running a time of 17:45. The Bobcats finished ahead of the three other MAC schools in the race: Ball State, Central Michigan and Western Michigan.

Coach Calkins was pleased with the performance of his leaders. "The frontrunners were great today," said Calkins. "We're missing middle depth between second and third places, so we're going to work on closing that gap the rest of the season, and hopefully we can do that."

Overall, the gold division winners were North Central College, a Division III school, on the men's side and Michigan State on the women's side. Grand Valley State, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Calvin College and Windsor rounded out the top five for the men's race. For the women, Grand Valley State, Northwestern, Calvin and Illinois State completed the top five, just ahead of Ohio.

Bobcat runners Shamus Eaton and Kari Summers are the reigning MAC Runners of the Week after their performances at the Ohio Invitational last weekend. Eaton, from Uniontown, Ohio, took first place in a field of 30 runners from Ohio and the University of Cincinnati. From Troy, Ohio, Summers placed second in the women's race out of over 50 participants from four schools.

Last weekend, the men's team finished second behind the Bearcats, who won their third consecutive meet. Ohio's Summers and junior Annie Beecham led the women's team to a second place result, finishing just 10 points behind Cincinnati, whose women also won their third straight meet.

The Notre Dame Invitational is one of the oldest and largest intercollegiate meets in the country and was divided into two divisions, Blue and Gold. The meet featured a total of 19 ranked men's and women's programs from across the country. The Bobcats raced in the Gold division, consisting of 23 teams from Divisions I, II and III. This was the first road meet for Ohio this season.

The Bobcats hit the road again next Friday, Oct. 10 for the All-Ohio Championships in Delaware, Ohio. The meet begins at 2:00 p.m. ET with the women's 5K.