1998 Miracle Yearbook

by Mark Womack A Race For The C edarville men's and women's ross country cross country teams return the NAIA Championships. The Cedarville College n'scrosscountryteammade move back to the national nebyreturningtotheNAIA ampionships, while the omen'steam maintained its sitionasoneofthetopNAIA omen's cross country pro- amsinthecountryfor 1997. e Lady Jackets were rated high as 14th in the nation fore placing 19th atthe na- nal meet for their fifth raight Top 20 finish. The omenplacedsecondintheir n Friendship Invitational, dintheMOC,andeighthin the All-OhioChampionships. Head coach Elvin King watched asthey were also the NCCAArunner-up.Themen's 12th-placeshowingculminated anoutstandingseason inwhich they were also fourth in the NCCAA, first in their own FriendshipInvitationalandthe Rochester Invitational, and second in the Mid-Ohio Con- ference. The Jackets were ranked ashighas 17th priorto moving up five slots on the nationalchampionshipcourse. More importantly, the women were as successful in Women'sCross Country: (kneeling 1-r) Kathy Swartzentruber, ri Forward,Jill Breckenfeld,Christy Taylor,Rachelle Elder,Megan Hill, eckyJordan,LauraHammond(standing 1-r) Head CoachElvin King,Sarah ollock, Jenny Heidenreich, Nilcki Lucicmann, JeriAnn Goodbar, Corrie rigorenko,Team Chaplains Daveand PatWarren(right). Finish the classroom as on the field of competition. Cedarville was presented the NAIA Team- Scholar Award for having the highest combined GPA(3.67) ofanyteamatthenationalmeet. Finishing atthetopinfiveof theeightmeets,JuniorBenTh- ompsonprogressedtothenum- ber one position on the men's team. Thompson was an NCCAAAll-American(top30 finishers) upon placing eighth of 142 runners in the national meet.HewasfourthintheMOC and was36thoutof336runners atthe NAIA Nationals. Freshman Ed Letts made his presence felt as Cedarville's numbertwoperformer,joining Thompson on the All-America unit. The rookie waseighth in theMOCand37thattheNAIA. Senior Eric Crawford,closing outhiscareerinthethirdspot for the men, was the team's lone NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete and MOC Scholar-Athlete. Seniors Chris Leverette and Steve McGillivray joined him on the NCCAA All-America Scholar-Athleteteam. Junior Becky Jordan moved uptotheladies'num- beronepositionandgarnered NAIA All-America honors for the third straight year by placing 25th for the 5,000 meters. Jordan also picked up NCCAA All-America honors and finished third in the Mid-Ohio Conference. She was the team's top fin- isher in seven of the eight meetsandshebrokethe20:00 barrier five times during the season. Huck Huck Men's Cross Country: (kneeling 1-r) Chris Leverette, Joel Peterson, Ben Thompson,Craig Shank,Eric Crawford, Steve Wakefield, Ken Loeschr, Eddie Nehus (standing 1-r) Team Chaplain Dave Warren, Chris Merrell,Steve McGillivray,David Rea,Jack Bailey,ScottRuhlman,Ed Letts,Maanager Scott Walker,Head Coach Elvin King(left). men's and women's cross country 243