BEREA, OHIO -- The 2014 Baldwin Wallace University men's cross country team will look to continue its rebuilding this fall as veteran Head Coach Dr. Bill Taraschke begins his 29th year in Berea. Taraschke is hoping the best performances occur at the All-Ohio, Ohio Athletic Conference and NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Meets.
"Our goal is to get better every day," said Taraschke who has led BW to some 40 OAC championships in men's and women's cross country and track. "We are still very young but have a veteran flavor. We will look to our juniors and seniors to be the leaders. If each student-athlete and runner can fully concentrate on daily improvement, we have an opportunity to be better."
Last year, the Yellow Jacket women finished sixth and the men eighth at the 2013 Ohio Athletic Conference Meet. The women were 13th and men 14th at the All-Ohio Meet, and the women were 22nd and men 29th at the Great Lakes Regional.
The goal is to be better this year and Taraschke's two teams have the ingredients to be better. The women return five of the top seven runners (ran at the GL Region Meet in 2013) and the men have four of seven.
The men's team will be led by senior Greg Blevins (Mentor) and junior Mike Miller (Strongsville). Miller placed 17th at last year's OAC Meet and was 65th at the Regional. Blevins was 40th at OAC's and 117th at the regional.
In addition, juniors Alex Fuhrmann (Painesville/ Riverside) and Aaron Long (Mishawka, Ind./ Penn) represent the other two of the top seven from a year ago. Also returning are juniors Jason Young (Parma/ Normandy) and sophomores Tate Stoll (Norwalk/ Western Reserve) and Seth Duncan (North Olmsted). Taraschke will welcome one transfer in sophomore Brian Brennan (Akron/ Walsh Jesuit) and four freshmen in Brady Jeffers (South Amherst/ Firelands), Evan Milkovich (Westlake), Justin Swords (Brunswick) and Dylan Tanner (Mentor). Both Fuhrmann and Stoll each earned Academic All-OAC honors last spring.
"We have three solid runners in Brennan, Miller and Blevins and Swords and Jeffers have the potential to be solid as well," said Taraschke. "We have more depth this season and I look for the men's squad to be much-improved."
The men and women open the season on Friday, August 30 when they travel to Wooster, Ohio to compete at the Annual Wooster Season-Opener. The men's and women will compete in both a 5K and 4-mile race that are run separately. The event begins at 6:00 p.m. The OAC Championship Meet is on Saturday, November 1 and hosted by John Carroll University.
