Men Finish Second Behind No. 18 Ohio State :: Linton, Leon finish in top-10; Reinhart places third as women finish sixth

Oct. 7, 2005

DELAWARE, Ohio - Under soggy conditions, both Jason Linton and Craig Leon had top-six finishes to lead the men to second place, just eleven points behind eighteenth-ranked Ohio State at the All-Ohio Championships. On the women's side, Carime Reinhart landed a top-five finish for the third-consecutive race to lead the team to sixth place.

On the men's 8K course, senior Linton (Vincent) finished third with a time of 26:05.1, only 19 seconds behind the winner, Mike Sawicki of Otterbein. He was the quickest Mid-American Conference runner, beating out Akron's David Howard by one second. Leon (Van Wert) closely followed, taking sixth at 26:11.2. Brian King (Richfield, Minn.) and Austin Schiele (Hudson) also had top-20 finishes at 14th and 18th, respectively, with times of 26:31.9 and 26:40.1. Brian List (Milford) rounded out the scoring for Ohio with a 34th place finish, only seven seconds behind Ohio State's 23rd-place runner.

That difference in time and Ohio State's three top-10 placements proved to be the difference as the Buckeyes won the meet with 64 points, just 11 ahead of Ohio. Last year, the Bobcats placed fourth out of 39 teams.

"It was about a 10-point spread between us and Ohio State," said Ohio Head Coach Clay Calkins. "We were trying to get the win, but we knew Ohio State would be tough. We knew we could get right in there in the top-three spots. The men performed really well and ran a great team race and did fantastic."

On the 5K course, sophomore Reinhart (Bascom) took her sixth top-five finish in nine career races at 18:18.4 to place third, 28 seconds behind Akron's Beata Rudzinksa. Andrea Maas (Cincinnati) placed 15th at 19:03.6. Lauren Birnie (Worthington), Julia Weisenborn (Bowling Green) and Rachel Beakas (Waterville) rounded out the scoring, placing 40th, 57th and 59th. The women finished with 174 points, just two behind Miami and 25 behind Bowling Green. Akron won the title with 71 points. Last year, the Ohio women placed 13th out of 39.

Though the rain continued to drizzle throughout the day at the Methodist Theological School course, both teams were able to improve upon their finishes from the previous year against a combined 80 schools.

"The weather was definitely a factor," Calkins said. "The course was slippery and footing was poor at best. It was raining here pretty much all day."

Friday's meet marked Ohio's second-to-last tune-up before the Oct. 29 MAC Championships in DeKalb, Ill.

"Coach (Mitch) Bentley and I are happy with the performances of both the men's and women's teams," Calkins said. "Both performed as well as we expected, and we hope we can keep the ball rolling with the MAC Championships coming up."

Next on the slate for the Bobcats is the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Indiana October 15th.