No. 23 Ohio Northern places third at Knight Invitational

By Zach Stipe

GRAND RAPIDS (Mich.) — All seven Polar Bears ran career-best times as the No. 23-ranked Ohio Northern men's cross country team finished third of 10 teams at the highly competitive Knight Invitational on Saturday hosted by No. 1 Calvin (Mich.) at the Gainey Athletic Center.

Calvin won the meet with 31 points, while NCAA Division II Aquinas (Mich.) scored 75 points to earn second place. Northern (20-3) finished with 78 points to outdistance itself from three nationally-ranked opponents. No. 12 Wisconsin-Oshkosh (90 points) placed fourth, No. 33 Case Western Reserve (108) was fifth and No. 19 Heidelberg (145) finsihed sixth.

Three juniors captured spots No. 7 through No. 9 on ONU's All-Time Top Ten with their performances.

Thomas Adam led the way for the Polar Bears, covering the 8,000-meter course in 25:29 to finish seventh of 140 runners. Eric Porter and Jimmy O'Brien finished 15-16 in 25:39 and 25:40, respectively.

Adam's time ranks him fourth all-time among juniors, while Porter's time puts him fifth for the class.

Junior Paul Lewis (19th) and sophomore Brent Hiser (21st) were right behind finishing in 25:45 and 25:46, respectively, to round out the scoring.

Hiser's time puts him in a tie for fifth place all-time among sophomores.

Sophomore Alan Bowsher finished 23rd in 25:52 and senior Robert Leslie was 40th in 26:21.

Before Saturday only nine Polar Bears, including Lewis, had ever broken the 26-minute barrier, but five Northern athletes added their names to that list.

Northern also avenged an early-season defeat to Ohio Athletic Conference -rival Heidelberg by placing all seven runners before the Student Princes' third runner.

Ohio Northern returns to action next Saturday at the Otterbein Invitational at 10 a.m.

Men’s Team Results
1. Calvin (Mich.) 31, 2. Aquinas (Mich.) 75, 3. Ohio Northern 78, 4. Wisconsin Oshkosh 90, 5. Case Western Reserve 108, 6. Heidelberg 145, 7. Baldwin-Wallace 209, 8. Calvin (JV) 274, 9. Alma (Mich.) 286, 10. Adrian (Mich.) 295.

Top Five Finishers
1. Jed Christiansen (Cal.) 24:49, 2. Chris Robertz (AC) 25:02, 3. Tad Hulst (Cal.) 25:06, 4. Jon Gries (Cal.) 25:11, 5. Dominic Smith (CW) 25:15. 5 #394 Smith, Dominic JR Case Western 5:04.8 25:15.00 5

Ohio Northern Complete Results
7. Thomas Adam 25:29, 15. Eric Porter 25:39, 16. Jimmy O'Brien 25:40, 19. Paul Lewis 25:45, 21. Brent Hiser 25:46, 23. Alan Bowsher 25:52, 40. Robert Leslie 26:21, 68. Josh Anstine 27:11, 70. Travis Isenberg 27:15, 74. Ben McPheron 27:22, 78. Jared Simon 27:28, 80. Kevin Craigo 27:30, 84. Tyson Snider 27:35, 86. Nick Edmonds 27:37, 88. Jacob Schoenlein 27:40, 98. Robert Money 28:10, 102. Brad Neumann 28:16.