On Friday, the Kenyon men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Cedarville for the All-Ohio Intercollegiate Classic. In the single-day event, the men’s team earned eighth place and the women’s team finished in 16th.

Men: Leading the way for the Owls in the 8K race was Charlie Blackmer ’28, whose time of 25:16.6 was good for 10th place overall. Next to finish was Colt Murphy ’26, coming in at 25:35.6 to pick up 25th place. Josh Breard ’26 finished in 44th with his time of 25:50.2, while Charlie Menzel ’28 earned 88th place after coming in at 26:39.1. Rounding out the top 100 for the Owls was Caleb Low ’28, who placed 99th (26:43.8).

While Kenyon finished eighth overall, it came in third among D-III schools, falling behind only Otterbein University and John Carroll University.

After the meet, Blackmer was proud of the Owls’ efforts. “As a team, we had many guys step up and have huge PRs and great times for their first-ever 8Ks,” he wrote in an email to the Collegian. “We need to continue to step up in big races, while also getting our spread closer together between our top 5 guys.”

Women: While the women’s team did not find quite as much success as the men at the meet, the Owls still sported some impressive times. Anna Brown ’26 led the charge, running the 6K race in 22:11.3 to earn 10th place among all runners and first place among D-III competition. The next Kenyon runner to cross the finish line was Penny Griffioen ’27 at 24:16.5, good for 82nd. Lucie Prior ’28 came in 121st after finishing in 25:01.8. The final pair of Owls to crack the top 150 were Cassidy Kaler ’28 and Hannah Gross ’27, who came in at 25:14.4 and 25:19.9, respectively.

In an email to the Collegian, Brown reflected on her success in the race that led her to earning NCAC Athlete of the Week honors. “I was successful in pushing myself and realizing goals I had believed were possible, but had yet to actualize on the course,” she wrote. “The weather was hot, dry and brutally sunny, so running in the unforgiving Ohio evening heat and competing with runners who were literally out of my league, there were moments later in the race when I struggled to keep my head in the race. But hearing my coach and teammates from the men’s team cheering me on kept me going.”

Both teams now look ahead to Oct. 3, when they will compete in the Ohio Wesleyan Invitational where last year, the men’s team finished in 18th place and the women did not compete. Blackmer was optimistic about the team going forward. “Our main goal this year is winning a conference title which is something Kenyon hasn’t done since 2003,” he wrote. “We are regionally ranked for the first time in a long time, so we definitely believe it is possible, but it won’t be easy.”