The University of Findlay men’s cross country team won the first conference championship in program history on Saturday, capturing the Great Midwest Athletic Conference title at the G-MAC Championships in Tiffin behind six All-G-MAC runners, the University of Findlay’s athletics department reported.
It was a historic day for the Oilers on both sides of the meet. While the men broke through for their first title, Findlay’s women placed fourth as a team, with two runners earning All-G-MAC recognition, according to Findlay Athletics.
Junior Benjamin Hall led the way for the Oilers, finishing second overall in a personal-best 24:05.2 for the 8K race — a time that moved him into second place in the program’s record books, Findlay Athletics said. Hall earned first-team All-G-MAC honors with the finish.
He had plenty of company near the front. Asher Long finished fifth in a personal-best 24:13.2 and Ty Rosengarten was seventh in 24:17.9, and both joined Hall on the All-G-MAC first team. Findlay Athletics noted that Long’s time now ranks third in program history and Rosengarten’s ranks fourth, meaning three of the four fastest 8K runners in school history raced on the same championship team on Saturday.
Erik Nygaard placed 11th in 24:33.5 and Billy Dennison finished 13th in 24:39.0, and both earned second-team All-G-MAC honors to round out Findlay’s top 20. In all, six Oilers earned all-conference recognition, the depth that separates a good team from a championship one in a conference meet scored on pack running.
Behind the scoring five, Findlay’s depth ran deep into the field. Elijah Hadler finished 37th in 25:22.8, Luke Ellerbrock was 42nd in 25:27.4 and Harrison Stokes placed 48th in 25:38.2, giving the Oilers eight runners inside the top 50 of a conference championship field, according to the results published by Findlay Athletics.
The title was eight years in the making. Head coach Eric Wymer told Findlay Athletics: “Today was special. Something that has been 8 years in the making. Since I started here in 2018 this has been the goal. Year after year, we’ve had guys buy in and lay the foundation. This program wouldn’t be where it is without every guy who has ever been on this team.”
Wymer also praised his women’s team for racing aggressively despite falling short of its goal. “I’m really proud of our women. I know it wasn’t what we wanted but they put themselves out there and went for it,” Wymer told Findlay Athletics. “I’d rather go for it and come up short rather than not give yourself a shot.”
Lauren Sattler led Findlay’s women, finishing fourth in 21:49.0 to earn first-team All-G-MAC honors. Elyza Long added second-team recognition with a 21st-place finish in 22:53.8, and the Oilers packed Natalie Gutman (22nd, 22:54.8), Olivia Fenbert (24th, 22:57.9) and Ella Webster (25th, 23:09.1) close behind her on the way to the fourth-place team finish.
The women’s race followed a similar pattern of tight packing. After Sattler and Elyza Long, Addison Caudill finished 28th in 23:14.2 and Clair Rodgers 29th in 23:14.5, with Josilyn Welch 34th and Jenna Ramsey 35th — six Findlay women inside the top 35, a foundation the program will carry into the regional meet even after falling short of a team title on Saturday.
The championship adds a new chapter to a busy championship weekend for Ohio distance running. Across the state on Saturday, high school runners closed their seasons at the OHSAA state championships at Fortress Obetz, where a one-point finish decided the Division II boys team title — coverage NewsForce247 readers can find in our report on Lexington’s state runner-up finish.
For Findlay, the conference title changes what the rest of November can be, and it also changes how the program will be viewed across the Great Midwest: the Oilers are no longer a team hoping to contend on championship day, but the defending champions every other roster in the league will measure itself against next fall. A program that had never won its league now heads into the NCAA postseason with a trophy, a record-book top three, and a roster whose scoring five all finished inside the conference’s top 13 on championship day.
What happens next: the Oilers return to action on Saturday, November 21, at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wisconsin, according to Findlay Athletics, where the region’s best Division II programs will race for places at the national championships.
Photo: Harrison Keely, CC BY