The men’s and women’s cross country teams show signs of a promising season the Dayton Rich Davis Flyer 5k that took place Saturday morning after the women easily earned an overall first place with 27 points and the men earned second place with 34 points.

The women’s team had a promising lead, allowing them to wipe out Wittenberg (47) and Denison (50) in their three-team intercollegiate race.

“I was very surprised with our two freshman girls, Kaylie Murray and Johannah Stefanek, they ran really, really well,” head cross-country coach Thomas Scott said.

Four members of the Ashland women’s cross-country team were in the top seven. Emily Schumaker crossed the finish line in second (19:58.4), Kaylie Murray was right behind her in third (20:13.9), and Linda Morales finished sixth (20:36.2) with Jackie Genetin next to her in seventh (20:36.9). 

Also running for the Ashland Eagles women’s team was Johannah Stefanek who finished ninth (21:10.3), Cortney Haubert finishing in 12th (21:50.1), Austin Borton finishing in 20th (23:03.8), and Alexis Smith with 24th (23:36.7).

“Johannah tied her PR (personal record) from high school which is fantastic for the first race of the season and I know they all have been working really hard,” Scott said.

The men just barely trailed behind Cedarville (30) for their five-team intercollegiate race.

“We’ve got plenty of time to improve, we’ve got over two months until our Regional Championships which is the goal,” Scott said, “We’re trying to make it out to the NCAA championships, so we have plenty of time to work.”

Ashland’s top male runner for this meet was Tyler Lance finishing fourth (16:05.2). The men’s team then overtook sixth through ninth place, thanks to Zach Humrichouser (16:11.1), Steven Kapes (16:11.8), Tommy Menyes (16:13.6), and Aubrey Jordan (16:23.8). 

“Our top five guys are all actually within 18 seconds of each other, so I was really happy with how the team preformed and the pack,” Scott said.

Finishing up for the men’s team was Kyle Shively in 13th (16:37.9), Jonathan Albaugh in 24th (17:04.5), Tyler Sievert in 34th (17:46.6), Matt Morris in 35th (17:48.9), and Derek Reynolds in 49th (19:56.1). 

“We have not ran at Dayton since 2011 and last time we ran there both our men’s and women’s team qualified for the NCAA Championships that year and if you go back and look at the times we ran our top five ranged from 16:06 to 16:25 for their times and this year our times range from 16:06 to 16:23, it was almost identical,” Scott said.

On the men’s side, the Eagles sat out their top runner, Nick Hall, who has not been feeling well, although Scott says they hope to have him back next week.

The Ashland Eagles men and women’s cross country will be competing again next week on Sept. 16 at the Spartan Invitational at Michigan State University.