Brown Leads UU Men at All-Ohio Championships

CEDARVILLE, Ohio (September 29, 2012) - For the third consecutive race, a group of Urbana University women's cross country runners continued their assault on the Blue Knights' record books.  Running at the All-Ohio Championships hosted by Cedarville University, Blue Knights Jackie Smith, Jade Roark and Sara White all finished with Top 10 times in the program's five-year history.

In each of the past two races, it was Roark who came out on top with a new school record, but on Saturday, her fellow freshmen Smith took the team crown and became the first female Blue Knight to run a sub-23-minute 5K.  Smith ran the 75th fastest time amongst D-II/NAIA Ohio runners, crossing the finish line in 22:58.17.  Roark ran 46 seconds slower than her school-record pace two weeks ago at Cedarville, crossing the finish line in 23:56.46.  That time is the fourth fastest time in program history.

Senior Sara White was right on Roark's heels, crossing the finish line in 24:25.95.  The time is a new personal best for the four-year Blue Knight.  Entering this season, White's best time was a school record 24:36.15, ran at the Wilmington Fall Classic during White's freshman year.

Rounding out the women's race for Urbana were runners Melissa Bell (25:47), Jessica Thomas (30:06), and Kaylen Diemer (35:17).  For the second straight week, Bell is within one minute of her personal best, set last season at the Wilmington Fall Classic.

On the men's side, junior Josh Brown led the way for Urbana for the second race in a row.  He edged teammate Dylan McCubbin by 29 seconds after beating him by just 11 seconds in their last race.  Brown's time of 31:48 was 23 seconds off his personal best pace set two weeks ago on Cedarville's home course.  McCubbin's pace was a second faster than his first 8K of the season at Ohio Wesleyan, but 41 seconds slower than his time at Cedarville two weeks ago. 

Like Brown and McCubbin, Blue Knights Patrick Malloy and Ryan Castle just missed out on beating their time on the same course two weeks ago.  Malloy's time of 32:58 was 43 seconds slower than his last race at Cedarville.  Castle crossed the finish line in 34:38, which was just 28 seconds slower than his last outing.

Both teams are back in action in two weeks at the Wilmington Fall Classic.  In year's past, the Blue Knights have fared well at Wilmington.  The October 12th race is the final tune-up before a return to Cedarville for the G-MAC Conference Championships.