Bowling Green, Ohio – The University of Akron men’s and women’s cross country teams each finished in first place at the Falcon Invitational on Saturday morning.

The UA men picked up their second win of the season by posting 82 points and having all five runners finish in the top-25 in the 8K run through the BGSU golf course.

Jason Headman (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood HS) and Craig Rupe (Cortland, Ohio/Maplewood HS) were the top two finishers for the Zips. Headman clocked in a ninth-place time of 26:02.9 and Rupe finished just one spot back with a mark of 26:04.78.

“Craig put together his second-best finish of the year, but this was by far his best effort of the season,” men’s cross country coach Joe Klim said. “I told all the guys before the race that we had a good chance of winning it if we put forth the effort and they did that today.”

Senior Jeff Swartzel (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Northwest HS) posted a time of 26:23.23, finishing in 16^th place.

“It was a quality team effort out there today,” Klim said. “This was a big win for us as we head into the MAC Championships in two weeks. The course was very flat, but we had to battle the wind all day and I am proud of our guys for getting the job done.”

Ricky Weisheimer (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood HS) ended in 23^rd place with a time of 26:32.34 and teammate Mike Baraona was right behind him with a mark of 26:33.03.

Ohio Northern (88), Oakland (120), UW-Milwaukee (139) and Youngstown State (162) rounded out the top-five finishers in the 13-team race. Eddie Kipchoge from BGSU finished first overall with a time of 24:40.33.

Sediah Erskine (Cleveland, Ohio/Rhodes HS) once again led the women’s squad in the 5K run, posting a second-place finish with a career-best time of 17:57.65, just one and half seconds back of the winner Ashley Richey (IPFW).

“Sediah ran an excellent race,” women’s cross country coach Scott Jones said. “She beat some of the runners that have beaten her in previous races, including some from the Mid-American Conference. She continues to improve each race and is going to be a great runner in the conference for a long time.”

Rachel Zubricky put together her best race of the season to end in eighth place with a time of 18:26.24.

“Rachel showed her character today by running the way we all know she can,” Jones added. “She had been having a down season, but she showed her toughness by putting that all behind her today.”

Freshman standout Heidi Gross (Mansfield, Ohio/Lexington) clocked in at 18:34.27 to earn a 12^th place finish for the Zips.

“Going into the meet I knew it was extremely important for us to respond after a slight let down at the All-Ohio Championships last week,” Jones said. “Today our team showed their character by focusing in and running a very aggressive race from start to finish.”

Bowling Green transfer Collen Moran (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) returned to her former home course and recorded a time of 18:41.82 to finish in 16^th place.

Junior Gina DiAntonio (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls HS) rounded out the Zips point participants in 29^th place, clocking in at 19:09.46.

Ball State (100), IPFW (102), BGSU (118) and UW-Milwaukee (126) completed the top-five finishers in the 19-team race.

Akron will be back in action on Oct. 28 at the MAC Championship meet in Buffalo, N.Y.