The Otterbein cross country teams competed Saturday at the 11th Annual Interregional Border Battle, hosted by Rowan University. The men raced to a fifth-place finish of 19 teams and the women finished seventh of 20 teams.
Mitch Green paced the men's team, running to a 27:10.2 finish and claiming seventh place overall out of 100 runners. Tucker See crossed next in 27:59.9. Charlie Rundio (28:21.8), Brady Pugh (28:26.4) and Brannon Moser Jr. (28:33.7) rounded out the top five finishers for the Cards on the men's side.
Caleb Rafferty and Cameron Burke followed in 28:37.5 and 28:43.8, respectively. Henry Barnes (29:25.3) and Spencer Grace (29:55.1) completed the men's lineup.
Finishing back-to-back for the Otterbein women were Ava Stratmann, who led the charge with a time of 23:43.6, and Kate Thormeier (23:49.8). Sarah Scarborough (23:59.8), Brenna Lay (24:20.9) and Ollie Smith (24:37.4) rounded out the women's top five finishers.
Claire Speakman was next across the line next in 24:46.4, followed just 1.4 seconds later by Eliza McDonald in 24:47.8.
Ella Degenhard (25:10.4), Gigi Leiter (25:22.9) and Violet Gies (25:36.5) rounded out the women's finishers.
Otterbein will have a week off before traveling to Lorain, Ohio, to compete in the 2026 OAC Cross Country Championship race. The women's race will take place at 11 a.m. while the men's race is set to begin at noon.
