The Baldwin Wallace University men’s cross-country team resumed running on Sept. 22 at the Purple Valley Classic. This meet was hosted by Williams College at a nearby High School in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The team as a whole finished 10th out of 16 teams.

Head coach Joseph Eby stated, “On the men’s side, we were 33 points behind Tuffs, who is ranked 29th in the nation, and 43 points behind Connecticut College, who is ranked 24th in the nation”. 

Leading the way for the Jackets was Isaac Wilson with a 40th place finish with a time of 27:02.2. Next was Josh Hickmott at 27:05.6, good for a 44th place finish. Spencer Mahon, Andrew Krupp and Nick Irwin all rounded it out for the Yellow Jackets. Mahon kept a good pace to get 65th at a time of 27:33.4, Krupp was 76th at 27:43.8 and Irwin finished with a time of 27:50.6 to earn him 85th place.

For his times this week, Wilson was selected as the Ohio Athletic Conference runner of the week for the second time in his career. This award was given for his performance at the Purple Valley Classic in the 8k where he placed 40th out of 200 plus runners.  

 The Yellow Jackets next meet was at the All-Ohio Championship. This meet took place at the University of Akron on Sept, 29. The runners were tested by running through the Silver Creek Metro Park Cross Country Trails. 

“We were excited to compete at the All-Ohio last weekend against most of the OAC and many more teams from all divisions in Ohio”, said Coach Eby. 

The Yellow Jackets took sixth place out of 17 Division III schools and overall placed 16th out of a total of 39 teams that participated. The team was led by sophomore Josh Hickmott with a career best time of 25:30.6 in the 8k, placing him 15th in Division III and 52nd overall. Wilson finished with 25:37.4 to finish 19th in Division III and 60th overall. Completing the top five runners for Baldwin Wallace was Mahon, Irwin and Krupp. Mahon led the the three with a finishing time of 26:20.0 to earn a 41st place finish in Division III and and 111th overall. 

 Irwin finished with a career-best 26:33.1 in 49th for Division III and 125th overall. Krupp rounded them out by recording a career-best 8k time of 26:34.8, good for a 52nd place in Division III and 128th overall. 

Hickmott and Wilson repeated as the Jackets All-Ohio finishers.  The team will be back in action on Oct. 13 at Oberlin College for the Inter-Regional Rumble.