OBERLIN, Ohio — The Marietta College cross country season continued Saturday (Oct. 17) afternoon when the Pioneer men placed 16th and the women finished 20th at the Inter-Regional Rumble, hosted by Oberlin College. 28 men's teams and 25 women's teams took part in the event, which served as Marietta's final tune-up for the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship to held at Wilmington College on Oct. 31. [Men's Results] [Women's Results]

The Pioneer men compiled 464 points to place 16th in the race, which was won by New York University with 53 points. Marietta jumped 10 spots in the standings from a year ago. Allegheny College took runner-up with 56 points, while Carnegie Mellon University was third with 98 points.

"This was the best team performance that I have coached in a quite a while, if not ever," Head Coach Derek Stanley said. "The men averaged 26:52. They are running together as a pack and getting better each time we toe the line. It is also the first time we have ever beaten Baldwin-Wallace."

Senior Josh Mickle (Madison, Madison) anchored the team's performance with a 65th place finish after crossing the 8K line in 26:26. Freshman Caleb Muller (Columbus, Bexley) followed in 89th place running 26:47, which is the fastest time for a freshmen since the program's reinstatement. Classmate Caleb Ellis (St. Albans, W.Va., St. Albans) covered the course in 26:58, which was second only to Muller's performance for a freshman, and placed him 100th. Senior Cody Thomas (North Olmsted, North Olmsted) finished right behind Ellis in 101st place after running a time of 27:00. Senior Michael Siringer (Willowick, Willoughby South ) capped the scoring with a 109th place finish. He finished with a personal record time of 27:09. Sophomore Terrance Wallace (Westerville, Westerville Central) and junior Max Kenngott (Akron, St. Vincent-St. Mary) rounded out the competitors with 150th and 168th placements, respectively. Wallace ran a time of 27:52, while Kenngott came across in 28:37.

Marietta's women finished the meet in 20th place after combining for 535 points. Johns Hopkins University won the competition with 62 points. Case Western Reserve University took second with 105 points, while host Oberlin was third with 128 points.

"The women ran their most cohesive race of the season," Stanley said. "They stuck together as a pack and raced hard. Now we need to concentrate on moving that pack forward for the OAC Championship."

Sophomore Jennifer Emmert (Martinsburg, W.Va., Martinsburg ) led the Pioneers with an 87th place finish. She covered the 6K course in 23:55. Senior Shannon McDonald (Lorain, Amherst Steele) followed Emmert across the line in 97th place after running a time of 24:12. Senior Stephanie Williams (Vincent, Warren Local) crossed in 24:31 to place 107th. Senior Randi Robertson (Avon Lake, Avon Lake) finished 118th with a time of 24:44. Freshman Lydia Tillmaand (Xenia, Xenia) completed the scoring with a 126th place finish, crossing the line in 24:54. Rounding out the Pioneers' top 7 were junior Mehgan Cline (Dublin, Coffman) in 138th place and seniorLogan Wern (North Canton, Hoover) in 148th place. Cline ran a time of 25:16, while Wern covered the course in 26:00.

Stanley's program will return to action at the OAC Championship on Oct. 31. Last year, Marietta's women placed fifth and the men took seventh. Action begins in Wilmington with the women's race at 11 a.m. The men's competition will begin at 12 p.m.