Panther Harriers Prep for GLIAC Championships Saturday

COLUMBUS, Ohio – After a three-week layoff from competition, Ohio Dominican's cross country teams will race at the GLIAC Cross Country Championships, hosted Saturday by Hillsdale College.

The women's race will begin at 11 a.m., followed by the men's race at 11:45. An open race will take place at 12:30 with the men and women running simultaneously.

"Even knowing how tough this conference is, we are extremely excited to run in our first GLIAC championship race," Paul Benedict, head coach, said. "This is something we have trained for all season and we hope all of our hard work pays off. This season has been frustrating for our men, who have dealt with a lot of injuries, but I am looking forward to seeing our women contend. We have an expectation of seeing our times improve from earlier in this season."

ODU is coming off one of its strongest performances of the season, as the women placed 16th out of 31 teams at the Wilmington Fall Classic on Oct. 15, while the men had several personal records in their portion of the meet.

On the women's side, freshman Mallory Kitts (Springfield, Ohio) narrowly bested junior teammate Meghan Willeke (Lexington, Ohio) as the top ODU finisher. Kitts placed 83rd out of 319 runners with her time of 20:49.23, while Willeke was one spot behind her in 84th with a mark of 20:49.91. Freshman Michelle McKean (Pataskala, Ohio) had a breakout performance as she finished with the third best time on the team, crossing the line in 21:01.68 in 104th place.

For the men, junior Brian Litt (Mansfield, Ohio) set a personal record as he finished in 155th place out of 329 runners with his time of 28:39.67. Sophomore Eric Rauschenbach (Struthers, Ohio) finished in 29:42.09, which was also good for a personal record.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Ohio Dominican will be adding men's and women's track and field as varsity sports for the 2011-12 school year. Those interested in learning more can contact Benedict at benedicp@ohiodominican.edu and stay posted to panthers.ohiodominican.edu for more details in the coming weeks.