Zips Prepared for MAC Cross Country Championships

Saturday, October 28

Oxford, Ohio

University of Akron

Mid-American Conference Championships

Zips Prepared for MAC Cross Country Championships

October 26 | Cross Country

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MEN'S PREVIEW | WOMEN'S PREVIEW | MAC CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION | LIVE RESULTS

AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron men's and women's cross country teams will begin postseason competition on Saturday, Oct. 28, at the 2017 Mid-American Conference Championships, hosted by Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

The men's 8-kilometer race will begin at 11 a.m. ET, with the women's 6-kilometer race to follow at noon. In addition to a pair of MAC Championships on the line, the Zips will be competing for two points in the Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge. Kent State leads 1.0-0.5 in the current standings.

The nine-team field in the men's championship includes squads from Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami, Ohio and Toledo. All 12 conference schools will be participating in the women's race.

The Zips are in search of their first-ever men's league title after garnering runner-up finishes to Eastern Michigan in three of the last conference championships.

A year ago, the Akron men garnered a sixth-place finish, while the Zips' women earned an 11th-place showing.

The Akron men will be directed by a trio of individual scorers from the 2016 MAC Championship in senior Garrett Crichlow (Twinsburg, Ohio), redshirt sophomore Tevin Brown (Toledo, Ohio) and senior Eric McCabe (Hilliard, Ohio).

Crichlow was the first non-Eastern Michigan runner to finish the 8K course in the 2016 men's race sprinting past the line in 25:30.0 to finish sixth. By virtue of his sixth-place effort, Crichlow garnered first-team All-MAC honors.

Redshirt sophomore Joe Rossetti (Stow, Ohio) and Brown were next across the finish for the Zips' men's team registering times of 26:16.7 and 26:21.6 to place 29th and 31st, respectively.

Rounding out Akron's scoring efforts were Dan Zupan (26:29.0/36th) and McCabe (26:44.9/42nd).

Also competing for the Zips in the 2016 league championship was redshirt sophomore Nick Campbell (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) (27:10.0/49th), sophomores Nick Stricklen (Lexington, Ohio) (27:12.3/50th) and Samuel Blechman (Bradford Woods, Ohio) (27:20.1/53rd) and Martin Zegarelli (28:50.6/75th).

Freshman Andre Bollam-Godbott (Brunswick, Ohio), Stricklen and Brown have been the Zips' top finishers in Akron's four races this fall, at the Tommy Evans Invitational (Bollam-Godbott), Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational (Stricklen), All-Ohio Championships (Stricklen) and Penn State National (Brown).

The Zips' contingent of runners in the race this Saturday will include; Blechman, Bollam-Godbott, Brown, Campbell, Crichlow, redshirt sophomore Jeremiah Fitzgerald (Mantua, Ohio), sophomore Marc Migliozzi (Pittsburgh, Pa.), redshirt freshman Jacob Ondash (Hiram, Ohio) and Stricklen.

The Akron women will be led by a quartet of individual scorers from the 2016 MAC Championship in redshirt junior Elizabeth Mosier (Austintown, Ohio), redshirt sophomore Mackenzie Andrews (Toowoomba, Australia) and sophomores Haley Hess (Curtice, Ohio) and Hannah Pineault (Morgantown, W.Va.).

In the women's 2016 race, Mosier covered the course in 22:52.8 to earn a 44th-place finish. Andrews and Hess followed Mosier across the finish line for the Zips' women's squad recording times of 22:57.6 (50th) and 23:13.5 (65th).

Completing Akron's scoring runners was Natalie Zidd (23:27.6/74th) and Pineault (23:32.0/78th).

Also racing for the Zips in the championship was junior Tarike Osuobeni (Columbus, Ohio) (24:40.2/97th).

Andrews has been the Zips' top finisher in each of Akron's four races this fall, at the Tommy Evans Invitational, Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational, All-Ohio Championships and Penn State National.

The Zips' list of runners in the race this Saturday will include; Andrews, Hess, Mosier, Osuobeni, Pineault, sophomore Vanessa Rivera (Seville, Ohio), freshman Lindsey Scarton (Berea, Ohio), sophomore Alyssa Thomas (Green, Ohio) and freshman Whitney Wendling (Lexington, Ohio).