Last Saturday, the cross country team competed at the Wooster Invitational.
Following their great performance last year at the NCAA Regional Championships, the tenured Ray Appenheimer transitioned from his role as head coach to associate director of athletics. This created many questions surrounding this year’s cross country season.
Former Associate Head Coach Izzy Alexander has taken the helm, and her tenure could not have gotten off to a better start. All 16 Oberlin competitors recorded personal bests, the men’s team in the four-mile race and women’s team in the 4,000-meter race.
Fourth-year Caleigh Lyons led the way for the women’s team in the 4,000 meter, crossing the line in 17 minutes, 7.4 seconds, placing third overall in the competition. Fourth-year Sage Serraino was also a strong finisher, finishing at 17:17.1. First-years Solana Pearl and Samantha Soto also performed well in their debuts in the crimson and gold, with Pearl storming across the line in 18:49.2 and Soto in 19:08.5.
“The course was a tough one, with over two-thirds of the race being uphill in the hot humid air,” Serraino wrote to the Review. “But the strength of my teammates running alongside me kept me going and it was so fun to be racing again. I was so incredibly proud of all of the [first-years] who ran this tough course as their first college race. Overall it was a great start to the season!”
The men’s team was not to be outdone, fourth-year Johnny Ragsdale earned a bronze medal finish with a time of 22:16.4. Fellow fourth-year Danny Markey and first-year Daniel Beyda were key performers at the invitational, with the veteran Markey putting up an impressive time of 23:06.6 seconds and the newcomer Beyda crossing at 23:07.4.
The men’s teams performance in the four mile race was good enough to earn them third out of four schools in the team portion of the standings, while the women’s teams performance placed them in second out of the three schools competing.
“I think this semester I’m most excited to just take in my last year being here with the friends I’ve made,” Serraino wrote.
Sufficient to say, the Alexander era of Oberlin Cross Country is well under way.
“It was a great start to the season. We had many athletes post their fastest time ever on that course,” Alexander said. “We were proud of our first-years who competed in their first collegiate meet. Johnny Ragsdale and Caleigh Lyons had particularly strong races on Friday. They both worked hard this summer and their training is in a great place. They raced confidently, and it was exciting to see them perform so well.”
Oberlin cross country will be back in action this Saturday, Sept. 7, at the NCAA Regional Preview.
