2007 Season Recap
Men's Cross Country Captures NAIA National Title!!; Women Take FourthA congratulatory poster sits outside Jack Hazen’s office in Malone College’s Osborne Hall. It simply says “YES !! from the ’72 X-C Team”. Thirty-five years after the 1972 Malone men’s cross country team became the first-ever Pioneer athletic team to win an NAIA national title, the 2007 men’s squad has earned the second such honor in the history of this storied Malone athletics program. And the members of that ’72 squad, along with the countless other athletes who have run for Coach Hazen in the past 40 years, couldn’t be any prouder.
On November 17th in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the men’s team’s “perfect” season came to a glorious crescendo as the squad captured the national title among a 28-team field at the NAIA National Championships. The victory capped off a season in which Malone never lost any of its meets, having placed first in each of the seven meets in which it competed, which was a first for any Malone cross country team in the 47-year history of the program.
Malone earned the NAIA’s #1 preseason ranking and held the #1 spot the entire season. The raters definitely knew what they were doing as, at the NAIA national meet, the Pioneers not only collected a victory but did so with the second-largest margin of victory (143 points) in the history of the NAIA national men's cross country meet (the 1987 Adams State, CO team won by 150 points). Malone tallied 59 points to easily outdistance runner-up Black Hills State (SD) University, which had 202 points.
Four Pioneer athletes earned NAIA All-America honors (top 30 runners) led by senior Ryan Kienzle (GlenOak H.S.) who finished second overall in a time of 24:24.9. Aaron Melhorn (Fr., Fairless H.S.) placed fourth in 24:44.7, Nik Schweikert (Jr., Beavercreek H.S.) came in 12th in 15:06.1 and Chris Sinick (So., Field H.S.) finished 26th in 25:25.3 to join Kienzle as NAIA All-Americans. Only the 1980 and 1989 Malone men's squads, with five All-Americans each, had more All-Americans at an NAIA national meet than this year's team. James Zeuch (Fr., Galion H.S.) narrowly missed All-America honors by finishing 33rd in 25:34.4. In addition, Michael Coates (Sr., Sandy Valley H.S.) placed 46th in 25:42.5 and Paul Robinson (So., Field H.S.) came in 123rd in 26:28.2. Also, Jack Hazen was named the NAIA National Men's Coach of the Year.
The Malone women's cross country team, also led by coach Hazen and ranked #5 heading into the national meet, earned a fourth-place finish among its 29-team field at this year’s NAIA national meet. The squad tallied 164 points, just one point out of third place, as Simon Fraser (B.C.) University took the women's national title with 99 points. Cedarville University finished second with 145 points and Milligan (TN) College was third with 164 points.
Katie Bagley (Jr., Van Wert H.S.) led the team with a 22nd-place finish in a time of 18:19.1 to earn NAIA All-America honors. Kalie Hauenstein (So., Ashland H.S.) also earned the prestigious distinction by finishing 27th in 18:23.1. Rebekah Genter (Jr., Crestview H.S.) narrowly missed All-America accolades by placing 36th in 18:28.2. Also scoring for Malone was Emily Grad (Fr., Field H.S.) in 52nd (18:45.9) and Sarah Hines (So., Northmor H.S.) in 74th (18:55.5). Others who competed for the squad included Kristin Downing (Fr., Lake H.S.), who finished 127th (19:24.1), and Alanna Seamon (Fr., St. Clairsville H.S.), who placed 150th (19:36.1). Just one week earlier, the men’s team captured the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) national championship in Yellow Springs, Ohio among a 22-team field while the Malone women's team finished runner-up among 24 teams. The men rested a number of their top runners but still scored just 30 points to easily outdistance runner-up Indiana Wesleyan University, which had 63 points. The Pioneer women's team earned a runner-up national finish by posting 61 points as Cedarville University took the women's national title with 29 points.
Sinick led the way for the men at the NCCAA’s by finishing third overall (25:27.72) while Coates was right behind in fourth (25:32.67). Others who scored for the team included Zeuch in sixth (25:38.85), Justin Baum (Sr., Kenston H.S.) in eighth (25:44.34) and Matt Nichols (Fr., Crestwood H.S.) in 15th (26:15.67). By virtue of their top-15 finishes, all five of these athletes earned NCCAA All-America honors. In addition, Hazen was named the NCCAA National Men' s Coach of the Year.
For the women's team, Genter paced the squad with a seventh-place overall finish (18:32.28) while Hauenstein was close behind in 10th place (18:43.52). Others who scored for the team included Hines in 12th (18:47.02), Grad in 15th (19:00.24) and Downing in 17th (19:08.88). Genter, Hauenstein, Hines and Grad were all named NCCAA All-Americans by virtue of their top-15 finishes.
Bagley and Genter also earned NAIA and NCCAA Scholar Athlete recognition for the women’s squad while Schweikert, Coates, Keith Burns (Jr., Minerva H.S.), Jon Easterling (Jr., Ashtabula H.S.) and Joe Siebert (Jr., Sandy Valley H.S.) earned the distinction for the men’s team.
At this year’s American Mideast Conference championships, the men posted their 39th straight victory at a conference/district/region event, having never lost a meet at which they have competed, while the women took second at the meet. The women also qualified for the NAIA national meet based on their conference runner-up finish and high national ranking.
In the 13-team men' s race, Malone finished 1-2-4-5-12 to finish with 24 points to easily outdistance runner-up Cedarville, which posted 69 points. In the 12-team women's event, Malone finished 2-6-9-11-12 to tally 40 points for their runner-up finish as NAIA #4 Cedarville took the women's championship with 25 points.
For the Malone men, Kienzle continued his dominance by easily taking the individual title in a time of 24:39.20, which was 38 seconds ahead of runner-up Melhorn who finished with a time of 25:17.70. Robinson was fourth overall, Schweikert placed fifth and Nichols rounded out the scoring for Malone by taking 12th. Kienzle, Melhorn, Robinson and Schweikert were all named to the All-AMC First Team by virtue of their top-seven finishes while Nichols was named to the Second Team. In addition, Malone head coach Jack Hazen was named the AMC Men's Coach of the Year.
For the women, Genter led the way with a second-place finish overall in a time of 18:04.55, just nine seconds behind winner Nicole Santos of Cedarville. Hauenstein was second for Malone and sixth overall in 18:14.00. Others who scored for Malone were Grad in ninth, Seamon in 11th and Downing in 12th. Genter and Hauenstein earned All-AMC First Team honors by virtue of their top-seven performances while Grad, Seamon and Downing each earned Second Team accolades.
At this year's All-Ohio meet, the Malone men’s team won its sixth All-Ohio title and is still the only non Div. I-A team to have won the All-Ohio meet. In Delaware, Ohio, among a 39-team field and nearly 300 runners, Kienzle paced the Pioneer men's team, which finished 1-2-4-12-13, by winning the individual title in a time of 25:13. In addition, Hazen was named the Men's All-Ohio Coach of the Year. Also, Hazen received the Marv Frye Award, named in honor of the longtime and retired Ohio Wesleyan University coach who was instrumental in organizing the All-Ohio event from the very beginning. The award is given by the Ohio Collegiate Cross Country Coaches Association for meritorious service. For the men, the victory marked their first overall All-Ohio victory since 1992, when the team captured the last of four consecutive overall championships. Only Miami University has had more consecutive All-Ohio victories (5 straight from 1965-69) than Malone.
In the men's race, Malone dominated the event by tallying just 32 points to easily outdistance runner-up University of Cincinnati, which had 90 points. Ohio University was a distant third at 179 points, Ohio Northern University was fourth at 203 and The Ohio State University rounded out the top five at 213. Other notable teams defeated by Malone included Akron, Kent State, Dayton and Youngstown State.
Following Kienzle's outstanding first-place finish was the second-place overall finish of Schweikert who posted a time of 25:20. Melhorn placed fourth in 25:57 and was named the Freshman of the Year at the meet for his top time by a freshman athlete.
The Malone women finished seventh among 44 teams at the All-Ohio event, chalking up 188 points as Miami University won the women's overall title with 75 points. Ohio University was a close second with 80 points while Akron was third (100), Cincinnati took fourth (103) and Cedarville University placed fifth (121). The Malone women defeated the likes of Ohio State, Dayton, Kent State, Bowling Green State and Youngstown State. Genter led the way by finishing 12th overall in 19:12. Hauenstein was next for the squad in 24th (19:29).
The men and women also competed at the Bowling Green State University and Loyola (IL) University Invitationals and at the Southeastern Classic in Nashville, Tennessee (also the non-scoring Kent State University Invitational to open the season). The men’s team’s perfect season also included victories at each of those events.
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