Pair of Bulldogs lead Yellow Jackets at Muskie Opener

NEW CONCORD, Ohio - Defiance College's first cross country meet of the season ended with the top Yellow Jacket finisher in each the men's and women's event hailing from Defiance High School at Friday's Muskie Opener.

In the men's 5K, junior Jake Stephens finished his first race in purple and gold in 23:43 to top all DC runners for the day. The former Bulldog compiled an 18th overall finish. Stephens led a pack of three straight DC runners to finish with J'Vontae Barnes finishing just under a minute later followed closely by Eli Fortman. Anthony Lawson-Beachum finished in 26:34 to give DC four runners in under 30 minutes. Kamren Lewis rounded out the field for Defiance at 37:22. As a team, DC's men averaged 27:26 and took a third-place finish as a team.

The women's race saw Mira Horvath place 12th in her first competition representing her hometown college. Morvath completed the 5000-meter course in 24:24. Zawadi Debola placed 18th with a time of 28:04. The end of the race featured a flurry of four finishers that included three Yellow Jackets (Israa Khamis, Amira Knight, and Rakel Thompson) crossing the finish line in a span of four seconds. As a team, the Yellow Jackets averaged 29:33 and finished second behind Muskingum in a head-to-head matchup.

All runners on the men's and women's side competed for Defiance College for the first time as cross country's largest recruiting class under second-year head coach James Rollins.

Cross Country travels to Tiffen next Friday for the Tiffelberg Invite hosted by Tiffen and Heidelberg. The first race of the day is scheduled for 5 p.m.

-JACKETS-