Alan Bowsher, Justin Dickman finish 1-2 to help No. 31 Men's Cross Country finish second at OAC Championships

Bowsher / Dickman

By Jeff Blezien

| Results | Championships Site |

WILMINGTON — Seniors Alan Bowsher and Justin Dickman finished 1-2, leading the No. 31-ranked Ohio Northern Men’s Cross Country team to a second place finish at the 2009 the Ohio Athletic Confrence Championships Saturday afternoon.

The Polar Bears’ record improves to 64-11 on the year.

Bowsher and Dickman finished in times of 25:21.08 and 25:21.87, respectively, to lead the Polar Bears.

Bowsher is the third runner in Ohio Northern history, along with Jimmy O’Brien in 2007 and Mike Becraft 1977 and 1978, to win the individual OAC crown.

The 1-2 finish by Bowsher and Dickman marked the first time in school history that two Polar Bears crossed the finish line ahead of the field.

Senior Brent Hiser finished eighth in a time of 25:49.68.

Bowhsher, Dickman, and Hiser all received First Team All-Conference honors.

Sophomore Dan Smith received Honorable Mention All-Conference honors with an 18th place finish in a time of 26:19.04.

Sophomore Nick Swinford finished the scoring for Northern on the afternoon with a 20th place finish in a time of 26:25..97.

No. 35-ranked Heidelberg finished first with 42 points, Northern finished second with 49 points, and No. 29 Mount Union finished in third with 79 points.

Northern will return to action November 14th at the NCAA Regionals at Rose-Hulman (Ind.)

Men’s Team Scores
1. Heidelberg 42, 2. Ohio Northern 49, 3. Mount Union 79, 4. Otterbein 117, 5. Baldwin Wallace 122, 6. Marietta 180, 7. Wilmington 189, 8. John Carroll 232, 9. Capital 283, 10. Muskingum 287.

Individual Top 5 Finishers
1. Alan Bowsher (ONU) 25:21.08, 2. Justin Dickman (ONU) 25:21.87, 3. Devin Butcher (Heidelberg) 25:23.95, 4. Austin Stiles (Wilmington) 25:30..45, 5. Bryce Basista (Mount Union) 25:37.34.

Ohio Northern Finishers
1. Alan Bowsher 25:21, 2. Justin Dickman 25:21, 8. Brent Hiser 25:49, 18. Dan Smith 26:19, 21. Nick Swinford 26:25, 24. Nick Baker 26:38, 25. Corey Bailey 26:41, 41. Ben McPheron 27:01, 45. Jared Simon 27:08, 49.. Travis Isenberg 27:11, 51. Tobias Deardorff 27:12, 54. Jacob Schoenlein 27:16, 61. Jeff West 27:35, 62. Patrick Rachow 27:36, 64. Nick Edmonds 27:39, 66. Robert Money 27:45, 67. Ben Ankrom 27:46, 69. Matt Bayman 27:49, 72. Sean Lemke 27:56, 75. Franklin Freytag 27:59, 78. Kenton Holliday 28:06, 81. Michael Simmons 28:14, 84. Cody Ellis 28:19, 86. Jacob Rettig 28:21, 93. Alex Bachtel 28:44, 99. Michael Sunyak 28:59, 106. Stephen Graessle 29:17, 107. Brent Ruby 29:18, 110.  Adam Sheetz 29:41, 122. Ben Wibberley 30:20.