Ohio Christian claims RSC Men's Cross Country title, heads conference's NAIA qualifiers
Ohio Christian claims RSC Men's Cross Country title, heads conference's NAIA qualifiers
FINAL RESULTS
WILMORE, Ky. -- Ohio Christian University claimed the team championship at the 2017 River States Conference Men's Cross Country Championship held Saturday, Nov. 4 at Asbury (Ky.) University, and as a result, the Trailblazers qualified for the NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship Nov. 18 at Vancouver, Wash. Also qualifying for the NAIA meet out of the conference was RSC runner-up Point Park (Pa.) University.
The top two teams in the final standings were the NAIA national qualifiers from the conference. The top six individual finishers not from Ohio Christian or Point Park also qualified for nationals individually. The top 14 finishers earned All-River States Conference honors with the top seven on the first team and the next seven on the second team. There was also an RSC Champions of Character Team selected.
Ohio Christian won the team title with 49 points with a big factor being the Trailblazers' four all-conference selections. OCU had two of the top three runners with Kyle Benecke finishing the 8K in 27:17 for second place and Joel Rodgers in 27:33 for third place. Jonathan Gardner (27:46) was sixth, and Hayden Mink (28:27) was 14th to also earn All-RSC honors.
Point Park took second with 61 points and three all-conference awardees. Xavier Stephens (27:42) led the Pioneers in fifth place, Chris Hunt (28:23) was 10th, and Desmond Marrow (28:27) was 13th.
University of Rio Grande scored 75 points for third place, and the RedStorm had three of the six NAIA individual qualifiers with Kameron Carpenter (27:51) coming in seventh, Mohammed Farah (27:52) eighth and River Spicer (28:24) 11th.
WVU Tech placed fourth with 95 points led by RSC Runner of the Year and individual conference champion Robert Jones, who placed first overall with a time of 27:08 to win by nine seconds. Michael Ecker-Randolph (27:39) placed fourth to qualify for NAIAs along with teammate Jones.
IU East placed fifth with 106 points and had individual qualifier Cole Dudley take ninth place at 28:08 to advance to nationals. Adam Klipstine (28:24) also earned all-conference for the Red Wolves the in 12th place, and he missed out on the final NAIA individual qualifying spot by 0.5 seconds.
2017 RIVER STATES CONFERENCE ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS & AWARDS
RSC Runner of the Year -- Robert Jones, WVU Tech
RSC Coach of the Year -- Eric Hamner -- Ohio Christian
RSC Newcomer of the Year -- Joel Rodgers, Ohio Christian
2017 ALL-RIVER STATES CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM
| Name | School | Time |
| 1. Robert Jones | WVU Tech | 27:08 |
| 2. Kyle Benecke | Ohio Christian | 27:17 |
| 3. Joel Rodgers | Ohio Christian | 27:33 |
| 4. Michael Ecker-Randolph | WVU Tech | 27:39 |
| 5. Xavier Stephens | Point Park | 27:42 |
| 6. Jonathan Gardner | Ohio Christian | 27:46 |
| 7. Kameron Carpenter | Rio Grande | 27:51 |
2017 ALL-RIVER STATES CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM
| Name | School | Time |
| 8. Mohammed Farah | Rio Grande | 27:52 |
| 9. Cole Dudley | IU East | 28:08 |
| 10. Chris Hunt | Point Park | 28:23 |
| 11. River Spicer | Rio Grande | 28:24 |
| 12. Adam Klipstine | IU East | 28:24 |
| 13. Desmond Marrow | Point Park | 28:27 |
| 14. Hayden Mink | Ohio Christian | 28:27 |
2017 RIVER STATES CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS OF CHARACTER TEAM
| Alice Lloyd | Ryan Morris |
| Asbury | Austin Blevins |
| Brescia | Kyle Robinson |
| Carlow | Christopher Woodley |
| Cin. Christian | Noah Hinson |
| IU East | Blake Brooks |
| IU Kokomo | Shad Jakes |
| Midway | Cameron Botkin |
| Ohio Christian | Hayden Mink |
| Point Park | Dylan Allen |
| Rio Grande | Dean Freitag |
| WVU Tech | Luke Jobson |