Fans and alumni came out Saturday morning to cheer the men's and women's cross country teams to victory in the 11th annual McDonald's Invitational. Four green-and-white painted students were among the loudest supporters, followed closely by a father using a conch shell as a rally horn. Alumni were on hand to present the top 15 runners with their awards, as well as to hand out team trophies.

With that type of support, how could the Bobcats disappoint?

The men's team finished with 23 points, as its five top runners all placed in the top eight. The second place team, Marshall, had 77 points. They were followed by Dayton, 82 points; Akron, 83; Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 98; and Otterbein, 153.

The women's team was equally impressive, scoring 23 points behind a one-through-four finish by Jackie Conrad, Melissa Converse, Heather Halderman, and Jacki Waller. IUP finished second to the Bobcats, with 70 points. Akron had 79 points, Marshall, 84; Otterbein, 156; and Cleveland State, 307, to round out the six-team field.

Casey Batey of Marshall took first place in the men's race, running the course in 24 minutes, 52 seconds. The time set a new meet record and tied the course record set September 19 by Karoly Bozan of Kent.

Ben Myers, Chris Cave and Gavin O'Neal captured second, third and fourth place for the Bobcats. They finished in 25:05, 25:19, and 25:28, respectively. Adam Smith took sixth place in 25:30, and Steve Ragg finished 10 seconds behind him for eighth place.

"I feel very good about it," Ohio coach Elmore Banton said. "We needed a meet like this. They really ran well."

Co-captain O'Neal was happy with the team's performance as well.

"The guys ran great," he said. "We knew we were going to win, so we concentrated on running together as a team."

Conrad led the women's team in a time of 17:19, which tied her own meet and course records. Converse and Halderman took second and third in 17:50 and 17:58. Waller finished in 18:08 for fourth place. Alicia Hastings came in 13th, running the course in 19:03.

"Having three runners under 18 minutes is super," Banton said. "We're closing that gap between our fourth and fifth runners. It's down to 55 seconds this week. Usually it's around a minute, 15 (seconds), a minute 20. "

Banton was also impressed with Waller's race. After finishing 38 seconds behind Halderman at the Indiana Invitational last Saturday, Waller cut the difference to nearly a fourth of that this Saturday.

"(Waller) was only ten seconds behind Halderman," Banton said. "I feel very good about that."