Heading into Saturday's MAC Championship Cross-Country meet in Oxford, Ohio, the men and women's cross country teams were looking to achieve their goals for the last and most important meet of the season.
Central Michigan University edged out Eastern Michigan University by one point to earn the fifth championship in Central Michigan's history in the men's division. Eastern Michigan would have won this championship meet, especially with a course record time of 23:50.20 by EMU's Gavin Thompson, but his teammate, last year's NCAA and MAC individual champion Boaz Cheboiywo, finished 16th due to a misinterpretation of Miami's Western Campus course. This allowed CMU to squeak by for the win.
Buffalo men's cross country finished sixth out of 12 with 170 points, only two points away from fifth place and ten points from fourth. They were led by the stellar performance of Jerimie Slick as he finished third out of a field of 99 with a time of 24:09.40. Rick Stewart finished 31st with a time of 25:26.60, Joel Beatty finished 41st with a 25:47.50, and Todd Ludden turned in a 44th place finish with a 25:49.10.
The top six finishers in both women's and men's divisions were named to the 2002 First Team All-MAC squad, and seventh through 12th place finishers were named to second team All-MAC.
Slick achieved his goal of finishing within the top ten in the MAC championship race and qualifying for the NCAA championships, besting his eighth place finish from last year.
The UB women's team finished 12th out of 13 teams with 305 points. Top runner Melissa Burrows finished her race 32nd out of a field of 112 runners with a time of 18:37.60. Lindon Wilcox finished 65th with a time of 19:15.00, and Christina Keck finished 69th with a 19:16.10 time.
The University of Toledo swept first and second place on the women's side, with the highly touted Briana Shook winning it with a 17:03.60, taking the MAC individual championship title for the second consecutive year. Shook's teammate, Sara Vergote, was close behind in second place with a 17:21.20 performance. This was Toledo's second championship in school history.
The NCAA championships will take place on Nov. 25 at Indiana State University.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
