On Oct. 31 Oakland’s men and women’s cross country team made history. The Golden Grizzlies become the fourth team ever in the history of the conference to have both teams win the Horizon League title within the same season. For accomplishing this feat, head coach Paul Rice was awarded Coach of the Year.  

“The teams on this list (of schools that have swept the league) are schools like Butler and Notre Dame,” Rice said. “It is nice to have our name on the list with schools like that because they are very well established programs and it shows that we are heading in the right direction.”

On the men’s side, Oakland scored 45 points, just enough to beat out Youngstown State with 46 points for second. University of Illinois at Chicago placed third with 87 points.

“We weren’t expecting it to be that close,” Rice said. “I had faith we were going to win, we knew it was between us and Youngstown, almost like a duel meet. I give a lot of credit to our guys for pushing through, if anyone hadn’t pushed as hard as they did we wouldn’t have won. It was a real team effort.”

Running an 8k, the total time for the Oakland boys was two hours and five minutes, averaging out to 25:10. Oakland had five runners in the top 15, four of whom were in the top ten. Sophomore Jacob Bowman was the fastest finisher for Oakland in sixth place with a time of 24:59. Behind him was his brother, junior Andrew Bowman, in seventh in 25:04. Junior George O’Connor followed in ninth (25:10), sophomore Bryce Stroede in 10th (25:12), and sophomore Michael Cox in 13th (25:24). The Bowman brothers were awarded All Horizon League first team honors. O’Connor, Stroede and Cox were awarded with second team honors.

On the women’s side, Oakland scored 32 points. 61 points behind Oakland was the University of Illinois at Chicago which claimed second with 93 points followed by Wright state in third with 98 points. The Grizzlies placed nine girls in front of UIC’s top three.

“It would have been impossible for our women to lose,” Rice said. “They are so strong and at any point anyone of them could step up. In our top nine we have one senior, so we are moving forward toward something very special. Both teams are looking to be better next year.”

In the Women’s 6k, the total time for the Grizzlies was one hour and 51 minutes while the average time was 22:15. Oakland had five girls place in the top 15 and, like the men, had four in the top 10.

Junior Ashley Burr was the fastest placing finisher for Oakland. With a time of 21:44, Burr finished second overall. Freshman Rachel Levy finished fourth (21:50), sophomore Miranda Haas finished fifth (22:17), sophomore Karli Keur finished sixth (22:28) and senior Kaitlin Carania finished 15th (22:45).

“ I’m very happy to have had a good race,” Burr said. “But I’m even happier that the hard work the team put in this season as a whole was showcased so strongly at the conference meet this weekend.”

Burr, Levy, Haas, and Keur were awarded with all Horizon League first team honors. Levy was also honored with Freshman of the Year.

The conditions were less than ideal for the meet. The course was a “flat open field” according to Rice. With no trees or buildings to block the wind, the weather conditions offered a more strategic approach to the race.

“When it’s windy no one wants to take the lead, because no one wants to jump out in front to take the wind,” Rice said. “I think this plays into our favor. Our kids were closer to each other and feeding off of each other. It shows that whatever the condition we are ready for it.”

Burr explained her strategy for taking on the brisk Ohio wind.

“I tried to latch onto the lead pack and then push to the end of the race as hard as I could,” Burr explained.

For this team, winning the Horizon League championship was a goal since June, the end of outdoor track season. Rice credits the hard work the team has been putting in for the past five months to the Horizon League title. He is proud to see all the dedication and teamwork come together to produce a historic result.

“This is a championship we set out to win going way back into the spring,” Rice said. “Looking at the results from spring in the outdoor 5k, we dominated the track. That was our goal with cross country, to dominate.”