Butcher Wins OAC Championship; 'Berg Takes Third

Junior Devin Butcher (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green) of the Heidelberg College men’s cross country team raced to the 2008 Ohio Athletic Conference Championship today, November 1, 2008, at the Carl Broughton Nature Preserve in Marietta, Ohio.
 
Butcher crossed the finish line in 25:57.68, topping 2007 champion Ohio Northern’s Jimmy O’Brien by nearly 21 seconds. Butcher’s time set a new course record, topping the previous mark of 27:04.65 held by Otterbein College’s James Castrillo in 2007. The victory marked just the fourth time that a Heidelberg runner has claimed the individual title. Butcher joins the company of Nathan Gibson (2002) and Aaron Hay (2000, 2001).
 
Butcher paced the Berg, who is under the guidance of first-year head coach Keith Roberts, to a third place finish in the team standings with 54 points. Claiming the team title was Ohio Northern University with 39 points followed by Mount Union College with 48 points. Rounding out the top-five was Otterbein (109) and Baldwin-Wallace College (145).
 
With the victory Butcher claimed All-OAC First Team honors and was joined on the all-league team with Scott Lasch (Huron, Ohio /Huron) and Jamie Martin (Wooster, Ohio / Triway). Lasch finished in eighth place in a time of 26:38.38 and was followed closely by Martin in ninth in a time of 26:40.40.
 
Racing to All-OAC Second Team Accolades was Jarrod Saling (Caldwell, Ohio /Caldwell). Saling stood 17th with a time of 27:07.49.
 
Closing out the scoring for the Berg and just missing all-conference honors was Jacob Lemon (Oak Harbor, Ohio / Oak Harbor) with a 19th place finish. Lemon raced to a time of 27:17.53.