Sept. 17, 2005

Men's Results
Women's Results 

Toledo, Ohio - Jason Linton (Vincent), Austin Schiele (Hudson) and Brian King (Richfield, Minn.) finished third, fourth and fifth respectively, leading the Bobcat men's cross country team to its first title of the season at the 80th Annual Central Collegiate Invitational on Saturday. The women's squad used a second-place finish by sophomore Carime Reinhart (Bascom) to take the fifth spot.

While Head Coach Clay Calkins used last week's race to give his younger runners an opportunity, on Saturday he watched the men's experience and depth shine against six other schools, including Mid-American conference opponents Buffalo, Akron and Toledo. Oakland University, Illinois-Chicago, and Defiance also participated. In 2003 and 2004, the men's team won the Ohio Invitational in Athens but had not finished higher than third in any tournament outside the city. In a field of 61 runners, the team ended that trend by placing four men in the top-10 to collect 38 points.

2004 Team MVP Linton, a senior, showed no rust from last year, finishing third at a time of 25:11, only five seconds shy of his career best. King, a sophomore, finished close behind with a career low of 25:20, surpassing his previous best time by a minute. Schiele, a senior, tied his own career best with a fifth-place finish at 25:27. Junior Craig Leon (Van Wert) also continued the team's dominance with his best performance ever, placing ninth at 25:37. Adam Frezza of Oakland University won the 8K event with a time of 24:58.

On the women's side, the Bobcats finished fifth against nine schools with 123 points. Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, and Cleveland State brought just their women's teams to the meet.

Reinhart ended the 5K meet at 17:57, 17 seconds quicker than her fourth-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational in 2004. She now has four finishes in the top-five out of seven races in her career. Freshman Rachel Beakas (Waterville) and senior Alison Green (Lancaster) finished 28th and 29th respectively at 19:18 in a field of 70 runners. Green's previous best time was 19:40 in 2004. Freshman Julia Weisenborn (Bowling Green) placed 34th at 19:27, and senior Lauren Birnie (Worthington) was just one second behind. Ebba Stenbeck of Toledo won the event with a time of 17:51.

At the meet, Calkins garnered Coach of the Year honors on the men's side, and Toledo's Head Coach Kevin Hadsell won the same award in the women's division.

Next on the slate for the Bobcats is the Ohio Invitational in Athens on Saturday, September 24th.