Cross Country finished sixth and seventh at meet

Ashley Foster
Staff Writer

   The Muskingum Cross Country teams traveled to the site of this year's OAC Championships to compete in the Wilmington College Fall Classic Invitational Oct. 17.

   The men finished sixth and the women seventh of the twelve competing teams. The meet yielded seasonal and all-time personal bests for many of the runners.

   Junior David Roepcke led the men with a 26th place finish over the 8-kilometer course in a time of 27 minutes 7.48 seconds.

   "I think everyone ran their best time of the year and we come back here in two weeks and we'll try to drop the times again," Roepcke said.

   A pair of juniors, Mike Skaggs and David Jones finished 41st in 27:46.62 and 43rd with a time of 27:51.67, respectively. Sophomore JJ Labatte crossed in 27:56.39 finishing 45th. Fellow sophomore Josh Fulton rounds out the top five in 67th place completing the course in 28:38.81.

   "It's a fast course and everybody ran well," Fulton said. "We go back in two weeks so hopefully we can run even faster because we know what to expect out of it."

   The ladies were led by a pair of juniors Ashley Foster and Molly Coleman, finishing 29th and 30th, respectively. Foster covered the 5K course in 20:35.17 while Coleman traversed it in 20:36.85.

   Freshman Michelle Seifert followed in 39th place with a time of 20:56.05. Freshman Ashley Gateless garnered 55th by finishing in 21:47.82.

   "In two weeks from now when we run this course again we're going to own it," freshman runner Amanda Wiles believes. The teams return to Wilmington Nov. 1 for the OAC meet where the women hope to improve from their fifth place finish and the men their seventh place finish in the 2002 season.

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