Freshmen took the spotlight, as the Kent State cross country team traveled to Cedarville, Ohio Friday for the All-Ohio Classic. 

The women’s team performed in the 6k race while the men ran the 8k. 

“It was a solid performance for both teams,” coach Laura Rybka said. “There is definitely room to improve.”

Freshman Camille Dunifer and Michael Hanselman finished first for the Flashes in both of their races. 

After having eight top-15 finishers in the women’s 4k in the Wooster Invite, the Flashes were unable to place a single runner in the top-15. 

As a team, the Flashes finished fourth in the women’s 6k race. The team finished with a time of 1:56:32.

Dunifer finished in 18th place out of 281 runners, with a time of 22:47.7. She was the only KSU runner to finish under 23 minutes. 

KSU had four other runners record sub-24:00 times. Graduate Student Grace Smith (23:08.1) finished 30th and junior Ella McCollom, fresh off finishing first at the Wooster Invite, had a time of  23:14.4. She placed 32nd. 

Sophomore Nora Salem (23:30.8) finished 45th, and freshman Savanna Hershberger (23:50.0) finished 61st to round out the top performers from the women’s race.

“We did really well with running together and pushing each other,” Rybka said.

The Flashes placed seventh in the team standings in the men’s 8k. The team’s time was 2:09:24.

Hanselman was the top finisher for KSU with a time of 25:06.8 and a ninth-place finish. He was the only runner to finish in not only the top-10, but top-45 as well.

Freshman Tanner Smith (25:50.9) and Owen Kelly (25:58.4) completed the course in under 26 minutes, placing 46th and 52nd, respectively. 

“Tanner Smith did well,” Rybka said. “He was composed and ran within himself very well.” 

Redshirt freshman Caleb Wilcox and Junior Jack Curtis round out the men’s top performances with times of 26:04.8 and 26:22.2. They placed 61st and 71st, respectively. 

Cedarville won both the men’s and women’s races with a team time of 1:49:00 for women and 2:06:09 for the men.

Senior Rio Grande runner Tyler Jenkins won the men’s race while junior Akron runner Megan Hipple won the women’s race.

Next up

The Flashes will continue to stay in-state as the team will travel to Youngstown Saturday for the YSU Invite. 

“We can improve on being more aggressive in the middle and end,” Rybka said.

The Women’s 5k will take place at 10 a.m., and the Men’s 8k will follow at 10:30 a.m.

Emily Lowen is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].