Blackmer, Owls impress at All-Region race

11/15/2025 11:15:00 AM

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Kenyon College sophomore Charlie Blackmer raced to a 20th-place individual finish among 272 runners in Saturday morning's 2025 NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Cross Country Championship, held at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park. His effort went a long way in lifting Owls to a 10th-place finish in the 37-team final standings.

Blackmer, who completed the 8k course in a time of 25:40.5, was just shy of his season- and career-best time of 25:16.6, which he set a month ago at the All-Ohio InterCollegiate Challenge. His placement among Saturday's top-35 runners earned him All-Region honors and, with that recognition, Blackmer became the Kenyon program's first All-Region runner since Sam Lagasse in 2015.

While Blackmer was making his mark in program lore, the Owls, as a team, recorded some noteworthy history, as well. The Kenyon squad, which scored 336 points Saturday, turned in the program's best regional finish since the 2008 team placed seventh.

At the top of the All-Region Championship team standings was Hope College, which scored three top-10 individual finishes and tallied 53 points. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology took second place with 94 team points, and John Carroll University, which edged Kenyon at the 2025 North Coast Athletic Conference Championship, placed third with 130 points.

Backing up Blackmer in Kenyon's individual race results was senior Joshua Breard. He clocked in at 26:16.71 for a 52nd-place finish. A little more than 20 seconds later, fellow senior Colt Murphy crossed the line in 26:38.39 for an 84th-place showing.

Sophomore Charlie Menzel and senior Henry Rodrigues were Kenyon's other two scoring runners. Menzel put up a time of 26:46.06 to finish 93rd, and Rodrigues, right on Menzel's heels, took 94th place with a time of 26:46.51. Both those Owls just missed their career best times, by about 10 seconds.

The overall race winner was Sam Rinker of Rose-Hulman. His time was 24:51.27.

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