Athens, OH—The West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcat Men demonstrated they were not ready to concede the conference race to Concord as they won by a single point 39-40 on a rainy and muddy course on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
Michael O\'Flaherty
Michael O'Flaherty of Freehold New Jersey led his Bobcat team to a 1-2-3 finish placing first behind an unattached runner in 27:51.6. Eric Cooper in 27:52.3 and Patrick Reagan in 27:53.9 gave the Bobcats a huge lead. The Concord University men fought back hard and placed a pack of 5 runners ahead of West Virginia Wesleyan's 4th place runner. However, there were three runners from Ohio University and one from Baldwin Wallace that increased the gap between the teams. The point spread proved too much for Concord to overcome. Brock Schwarz of Ohio University placed 4th in 27:57.7.
Wesleyan's 4th and 5th place runner also contributed to the win with solid finishes. Woody Snoberger placed 13th in 28:36.7 and Justin Coughlin's 20th place finish with a time of 28:57 sealed the win. If Coughlin or Snoberger had lost one place to any runner, the meet would have been tied.
Concord University was led by the 5th place finish of freshman Scott Grose from Marietta Ohio in 28:05.2. Before the race, Grose said he was ready to go and had a vendetta against the college that did not recruit him actively even though he lived an hour away from the Ohio University campus. Randy Horner of Hopewell Virgina placed 6th in 28:13.8. Chris Herron of Liberty High School in Glen Daniel, WV placed 7th in 28:17.1. Finishing fourth for the Mountain Lions was Michael Smutko in 10th place in 28:32.2. Smutko ran for Scott High School in Madison WV. Adam Koon of nearby Sherman High School placed a solid 12th in 28:34.7.
The top Alderson-Broaddus runner, Ryan Skotnicki, placed 21st in 29:06.3 and teammate John Riffle placed 25th in 29:23.6.
Picking the WVIAC champ is not any clearer today than it was yesterday. Jesse Skiles West Virginia Wesleyan's coach and Mike Cox coach of Concord have a few more weeks to tweak their teams into top performance.
In the women\'s race, Baldwin Wallace College took first place with 40 points. Ohio University was 2nd with 49 points. The top WVIAC team, West Virginia Wesleyan, was 3rd with 50 points and Alderson Broaddus was 4th with 100 points. Senior Andrea Maas of Cincinati, OH and Ohio University took top honors in a blistery 19:10.90 on the muddy and slow course.
Andrea Maas
The top five WVIAC finishers for the ladies were: Amanda Griffith of WVW with a time of 20:24.9, Sarah Rosier of WVW finished in 20:33.7, Amanda Maxwell of AB came in next in 20:36.7, Allison Teter of WVW ran the course in 20:39.5, and Kallen Weaver of West Liberty ran a strong 20:40.8.
I am waiting on the official results, and these comments are from my notes. I apologize if there are any errors or omissions.