Nov. 19, 2007

Men's Individual Results

ATHENS, Ohio - Ohio's Craig Leon competed in the NCAA Cross Country Nationals on Monday afternoon in Terre Haute, Ind. and crossed the finish line in 106th place out of 250 total participants.

Leon finished the 10k event with a time of 31:09.4.

The Van Wert, Ohio native qualified for Nationals by taking 15th at the Great Lakes Regional held in Bloomington, Ind. Leon claimed the last of four automatic individual qualifying bids to earn a trip to Terre Haute.

Liberty's Josh McDougal took first overall with a time of 29.22.4 and Oregon took the national team title with a total score of 85 - 28 points better than second place Iona's 113 points.

On the women's side, Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego took first place individually with a time of 19:30.9 in the 6k race. Stanford took the team title with a score of 145. Oregon placed second in the women's team standings with a total score of 177 and Florida State finished third with 236 team points.

A former walk-on, Leon has been Ohio's top competitor this season. The graduate student in Ohio's sports administration master's program has finished first twice this year - at the season-opening Mel Brodt Invite and the Bobcats' own Ohio Invitational. Leon placed third in a pair of races and finished second at the MAC Championships to lead Ohio to a fourth place team standing. Leon also captured Ohio's second fastest 8k mark all-time with a 23:58 finish at Pre-Nationals on Oct. 13.

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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.