Bowling Green, Ohio – September 13, 2009 – Over the weekend the Heidelberg University men’s and women’s cross country teams looked to continue to improve on the young season by taking part in the Mel Brodt Invitational hosted by NCAA Division I member Bowling Green State University.
In the predominately Division I and II field, the nationally-ranked men’s team finished an impressive eighth overall, and against Division III foes the Berg stood third.
The men’s team was led by senior Devin Butcher (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling). A Bowling Green native, Butcher was running in his own back yard and crossed the finish line in fourth among DIII runners in a time of 25:36.5. Overall he posted a top-20 finish in 19th.
Scoring a top-20 finish with Butcher was newcomer Bobby Over (Wadsworth, Ohio / Wadsworth). Over posted a time of 26:15.4 to stand 11th followed by senior Jamie Kuess (Coldwater, Ohio / Coldwater) in 16th with a time of 26:27.3.
Rounding out the top-five finishers for the Berg was sophomore Jordan Karnes (Edgerton, Ohio / Edgerton) in 21st (26:51.2) and freshman Dustin Kuess (Coldwater, Ohio / Coldwater) in 23rd (27:06.3).
On the women’s side, Heidelberg finished third in the Division III bracket, while standing 13th amongst the entire field.
Freshman Bobbi Custer (Woodstock, Ohio / Norwalk) continued to build on her strong start to the year with a 23rd place finish. Custer crossed the finish line in 20:47.5.
Backing Custer was junior Michelle Fitch (Kinsman, Ohio / Badger) with a 27th place finish. Fitch ran the 5k-course in 21:21.5 followed by Ninette Ruch (Toledo, Ohio / Notre Dame) with a time of 22:02.9, good enough for 30th place.
Newcomer Macy McFarland (Huron, Ohio / Huron) finished 32nd (22:21.1) which was directly in front of Natalie Ahlers (St. Mary’s, Ohio / Memorial) (22:55.8), Jessica Jones (Wauseon, Ohio / Wauseon) (23:05.6) and Anna Brodman (Tiffin, Ohio / Calvert) (23:23.6).