Fall Classic #19 Goes Down Without A Hitch!

This post is very late and I am sorry for that.  Last Friday we hosted the 19th version of the WC Fall Classic with 36 teams competing on our course at Wilmington College.  The weather was up and down during the days leading up to the race, but mother nature backed off just in time to give us good racing conditions on October 14th.  The course was wet and a little torn up due to the SCOL High School League meet being held on our course Thursday night, but still ran very fast.  The WC girls got things started  with a 3rd place finish out of 36 teams, behind Ohio State and Findlay.  The Quaker women scored 115 points-only 10 points out of second(Findlay).  Once again the Quakers were led by Jenna Parlette and Annie Cekada who finished 4th and 6th and were the 1st two Division 3 runners across the line.  Brittany Gibbons ran a very strong race finishing 25th in 19:32.  Freshman Tricia Steffen and Senior Colleen Romeo closed out the Quaker scoring in 42 and 43.  I thought it was the best run of the year for the women, but I think we all know we still have a better performance in our team and we will show everyone at the OAC Meet!  The men had to go without our number 2 man-Myles Corcoran who was fighting bronchitis.  I challenged our men's team to see who would step and help out in Myles absence, and the men met the challenge finishing in 7th place-the 3rd Division 3 team.  The highlight of the evening was a school record 8k run by Senior Pat Carroll who finished in 25:25.  He broke Derrick Jackson's record and Derrick was at the meet to see the race-he is the Head Coach at Thomas More College!  Pats time from the Classic is his first time in the 25's and I think he can run faster at OAC's or Regionals with good weather.  Brad Kline finished 33rd with a big PR of 26:20.  The Quaker Men had Personal Record runs from 15 out of 19 athletes on the team!  I was initially worried that the Fall Classic would be smaller this year due to Oberlin hosting the pre-regional on the same weekend.  We did lose some teams that had come in the past, but we had eight new teams this year that replaced the old teams.  It wasn't our biggest field, but it was very close.  I do think it was our most competitive field.  When I think about what the Fall Classic has become it makes me very proud.  I honestly think it is one of the best one day events held on our campus.  Next year I think we can push for 40 teams at the Fall Classic!