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Abi Gerstle

The Tiger cross country teams kicked off their season on Aug. 31 at the University of Dayton in a non-scored meet and then hosted the Wittenberg Invitational at John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs on Sept. 7. In both events, the Tigers turned in some strong individual times as they begin to build toward big meets in October and the NCAC Championship meet on Nov. 2, which will also be hosted by Wittenberg in Yellow Springs.

On the men's side, freshman Caleb Arnold (Enon, Ohio/Greenon) has emerged as the team's front-runner in both races, turning in times of 17:11 in the 5K race at UD and 28:36 in the 8,000-meter race hosted by Wittenberg. He finished 15th at UD and 11th at Wittenberg.

Right behind Arnold is senior Nick Dewald (Mansfield, Ohio/Senior), the team's No. 1 or 2 runner each of the last years. He finished 20th at UD in a time of 17:55 and 12th at Wittenberg in 28:47. At each meet, the next three men's finishers, in various order, have been freshman John Compton (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee), freshman Chris Petrik (Highland Heights, Ohio/Mayfield) and junior Tim Damopoulos (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City).

On the women's side, a familiar face is once again leading the Tiger pack. Senior Abi Gerstle (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont), fresh off back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division III national championship meet the last two years, was the team's leading finisher at the University of Dayton and then set a course record of 19:44 at the Wittenberg Invitational. She defeated all challengers in the Wittenberg meet by at least eight seconds, including several runners expected to challenge for her 2001 NCAC individual title.

In recognition of her outstanding performance in finishing first at the Wittenberg Invitational, Gerstle was named NCAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week.

Following Gerstle in both meets was freshman Tracy Butler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead), who turned in a time of 20:39 at the Wittenberg Invitational, good for eight place. Freshman Anna Finkelstein (Whitehall, Mich./Reeths-Puffer) and sophomore Marissa Davoll (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) have turned in top-five scoring times for the Tigers in each meet as well.