Shelley Grostefon
Senior Sports Writer
Last Saturday, Sept. 17, the women’s cross country team had a strong showing at the Otterbein Invitational in Westerville, Oh. The women’s team placed 10th out of 19 teams competing, composed of a pool of undeniably tough DI, II and III schools.
Kayla Zboran ’17 led the Scots in the women’s 6K race with a time of 25:11.0. Finishing right behind her was Collier Summay ’19, who completed the 6K with a time of 25:12.4. Zboran took 38th place overall and Summay took 40th place out of 219 runners. Summay earned the ninth-fastest time posted by a sophomore at the invite. Emani Kelley ’19, Mackenzie Kellar ’18 and Cobi Warstler ’20 finished 49th, 62nd and 67th respectively in the same race.
The weather during the invitational posed a challenge to the team, but the Scots managed to overcome this difficulty. “Saturday’s humidity made it a tough race, so we were definitely looking to place well, but not necessarily set any records,” said Ashley Ferguson ’18. “It was our first 6K of the season, so we’re still making adjustments and settling into the feel of that race.”
Despite the weather, head coach Dennis Rice was happy with how the teams placed. “Both the men’s and women’s teams had excellent team performances,” Rice said.
Ferguson noted how Zboran and Summay’s performances helped the Scots. “Kayla and Collier placed within two spots and one second of each other, which is great for our team score,” said Ferguson.
Rice wants to continue this trend of keeping the top runners close together and improve upon it. “We need to continue to work on closing the gap between our top five runners. Our ultimate team goal is to have a gap of under 60 seconds between our number one runner and our number five runner,” said Rice.
Looking forward, Ferguson noted the team’s focus and their future goals for the season, as well as their will to compete. “We want to be competitive. Since our very first meet we’ve had our eyes on the conference meet at the end of the season, and I think everyone is making little sacrifices every day to make sure we’re at our best when we get there.”
Rice agreed that the team has highly competitive goals. “We want to challenge the top 10 teams at the All-Ohio Championships. We also want to peak as a team at the NCAC Championships and the NCAA Regional Championships.”
Ferguson cites some of the aspects that make the team strong and will continue through the season, discussing the team aspect of an otherwise individual sport. “It really makes a difference in the team score when you have a strong, consistent group rather than just one all-star who’s trying to pull everyone else along,” said Ferguson.
The men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete next Friday, Sept. 30, at the All-Ohio Championships in Cedarville, Oh.