BEREA, OHIO -The Baldwin-Wallace College men's and women's cross country teams will both set high goals for the fall 2011 season. Each team plans to contend for an Ohio Athletic Conference Championship.
A year ago, both the Yellow Jacket women's and men's teams posted high finishes all season. The women had two second place finishes, including one at the 2010 OAC Championship Meet. The women were sixth of 19 schools at the All-Ohio Meet and seventh of 34 teams at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Meet. Highlighting the season was senior Kim Chinn '11 who placed second at the OAC meet, third at the regional meet and earned All-America honors with a 13th place showing at the national meet.
Coach Dr. Bill Taraschke enters his 28th year overall at the College and 21st as cross country coach. He has high expectations for each team. The women have one top returnee and will count on several young student-athletes for leadership and to compete for the top performance roles. The men return its top two runners and have four others with the potential to become team leaders. Combined, 20 letterwinners return, including 10 for each squad.
Taraschke has built one of the most successful running programs in all of Division III. He has led his track and cross country teams to 48 OAC titles, including 12 in women's cross country, and has been named OAC Coach of the Year or been a member of an OAC Coaching Staff of the Year on 36 separate occasions. In addition, Taraschke has guided 10 women's cross country runners to OAC individual titles.
"With our women's team, we look forward to competing at high quality meets during the regular season because we feel that it will make us better in the long-run," said Taraschke. "We have one of our top student-athletes back in Sarah Rospert (Milan/ Edison)and three others who ran at the regional meet as part of our top seven. The women need to run as a close pack and push each other to repeat last year's performance."
Leading the women's squad this year will be junior Rospert, who earned All-Ohio honors by placing 11th of 135 runners at the All-Ohio Meet at Cedarville. She earned All-OAC honors with an eighth place finish at the OAC Championships in 22:54. Rospert also earned All-Great Lakes Region honors with a 32nd place finish in 22:53.1.
"Sarah is still young, however she had a great sophomore season and is ready to be a leader on this team." noted Taraschke. "We are looking for her to be the person that pulls the whole team together. Sarah has unlimited potential."
Joining Rospert is senior Judy Patterson (Aliquippa, Pa./ Monaca Center) as well as juniors Lynne Fahy (Ontario, N.Y./ Wayne Central), Tess Hoogeveen (Westerville/ South), Shaina Kovatch (Parma/ Valley Forge) and Lauren McGaughey (Allison Park, Pa./ Hampton). Also, look for sophomores Lauren Hutka (North Ridgeville/ Midview), and Jamie Clapacs (Willoughby Hills/ Willoughby South) to make an impact. McGaughey, Hutka and Clapacs all ran at last year's regional meet.
"The rest of the pack can be good depending on summer running and how hard they worked this past offseason." said Taraschke. "The other variable is improvement from last season to this season and the desire to be a champion. We feel that we have a solid group of young women who are strong students and runners."
The men's and women's teams open the 2011 season at The College of Wooster Invitational on September 1 at 6:00 p.m. The 2011 OAC Championship Meet will be hosted by Ohio Northern University on October 29 at 11 a.m. and the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet is November 12 at 11 a.m. at Oberlin College in Oberlin. The 2011 NCAA Division III National Championship Meet will be hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh at 11 a.m. on November 19.
"The biggest key for both the men and women is to come together as a team," noted Taraschke. "When looking at cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field, cross is the one sport where the team performance as a whole matters most. Your sixth and seventh finisher is just as important as the top two. We have to get a good feeling for one another and run in a good pack."
FOR MORE B-W Sports Information, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter athttp://twitter.com/bwathletics.
