The OAC Cross Country Championship is all about which team shows up to compete.

On Saturday, that team was once again the University of Mount Union, as the Purple Raiders won an unprecedented 26th conference title.

The Raiders came out of nowhere to surprise the rest of the field, with all five of its runners earning All-OAC recognition to score 45 points. Ohio Northern (76), John Carroll (94), Wilmington (125) and Muskingum (135) rounded out the top five.

Results

The John Carroll team matched its performance from last year with a third place finish, led by second team All-Conference runners John Honkala (11th in 26:13.8) and Drake Sulzer (12th in 26:15.2).

Leading the Streaks for the second consecutive meet, Honkala remarked afterward that “Mount worked the downhills. I don't know what more we could've done, Mount ran a great race, ONU ran a great race.”

The men of JCU made their biggest mistake at the very beginning of the race, failing to get out at a fast enough pace and getting pinched in by the rest of the field. While the Streaks were unable to close this gap, Mount Union used a tight pack that included taking spots four through six in the race, while Ohio Northern held on for second place.

Defending his title was the senior standout from Marietta, Caleb Muller, who covered the 8,000m course in 24:51. Kenneth Janosko of Baldwin-Wallace repeated as runner-up finisher, stopping the clock at 25:26.8.

Just missing out on an All-Conference selection was senior Nick Wojtasik, whose 26:23.4 was good enough for a 20th place finish. Freshman Patrick O'Brien was the fourth Blue Streak in 26:33.4, while sophomore Tadhg Karski finished in 27th with a time of 26:47.3.

Head coach Dara Ford wanted a little more out of the team that traveled to Wilmington planning to take home a title. 

“I think the men did OK,” said Ford. “We competed hard, but we just didn't run exactly the tactical race that we would've hoped to have run.”

Rounding out the top seven for the Streaks were junior Chuck Mule, the top John Carroll finisher from a year ago, in 26:53.8 and 32nd place, and senior Pat Burns, running his final OAC race in 27:01, good enough for 38th place.

“Going into the Regional meet, we definitely have to get out harder, and stick together” Ford continued. “Keep moving up, but start out up in the pack a little bit. We're going to place as high as we can, put our chips down, and what happens, happens.”

Ford remained optimistic at the prospects of John Carroll qualifying for the national meet. The Blue Streaks will have the opportunity to do so in two weeks, when Anderson University will play host to the Great Lakes Regional Championships November 10 in Anderson, Indiana. At last year's meet, the Blue Streaks had the best finish of any OAC team.