Just 9.3 seconds were all that separated fourth place from eighth at the women’s cross country Mid-American Conference Championships last weekend, and in a tight pack of runners, Annie Beecham and Kari Summers knew that every second, every finish could decide if Ohio would repeat as champions.

The pair of Bobcat sophomores called it the closest race they’ve ever been a part of: Beecham finished in sixth place, 4.1 seconds behind teammate Carime Reinhart in fifth and just .7 seconds ahead of Summers in seventh. But they also had a pair of Akron runners to outmaneuver for placements.

"It was the most physical race I ran all season,” Summers said. “That makes it more exciting. It makes you want it that much more when people try to push you around.”

The Bobcats knew they had first or second place overall, but with Akron taking the fourth, eighth and 10th spots individually, all they could do was wait for the final scores to be calculated.

"Then coach Clay (Calkins) ran over to us, and he never runs like that so we knew it was a big deal,” Beecham said.

And that it was, as Ohio beat out Akron by two points for its second consecutive title and the 10th championship in school history — the most by any women’s cross country program in the MAC. And in addition to the women’s accolades, Craig Leon took second place to continue his successes this year with his fifth top-three finish.

It hasn’t been easy for the Ohio track family, to say the least, in the months following the elimination of men’s indoor and outdoor track and field. The men’s and women’s teams in each sport have always trained together and been a tight-knit group, and every current, non-freshman member of the women’s cross country team ran track last year.

"I think it’s important for us to just do our best and show them that we’re still here,” Beecham said as Summers nodded in agreement.

"I think it makes it a lot better because no matter what they do to us, we can bounce back. It’s obviously a big accomplishment for us to get the second championship too,” Summers said.

Calkins and assistant coach Mitch Bentley, who both earned degrees from Ohio, have had the unenviable jobs of serving as glue within the program since the cuts. They’ve supported their athletes in any way possible, they’re recruiting future athletes doggedly despite an obvious disadvantage in not having a men’s track and field team, and they’re still working with some of the most successful individual athletes on this campus.

All of the track teams have done their best to focus on the present, though they know better than anyone that the past remains connected. In the cross country team meeting Monday, Calkins and his team talked about the win, the cuts and everything in between.

"To overcome those setbacks — monumental setbacks — for the men and women it was a huge achievement,” Calkins said. “They dealt with it in whatever way they felt best. They did deal with it on both sides. They came through it.”

— Katie Carrera is the sports senior writer for The Post and covers football. Send her an e-mail at kc207604@ohiou.edu.