If you have found yourself sitting in class next to the guy with the grittiest facial hair imaginable, you are most likely sitting among members of the DePauw men's cross-country team.
This season, senior captain Stu Newstat created a new team policy: no shaving. The women's team, led by senior captain Siri Retrum, was not on board.
The North Coast Athletic Conference Championship for men and women's cross-country took place Saturday in Meadville, Pa. The men's team came out in style with one beard (senior captain Dillon Raidt) and eleven "grit-staches."
After battling the rain and cold, the men's team finished fifth with 148 points. Newstat finished 19th, receiving NCAC honorable mention with a time of 28:08.3. DePauw's top seven was separated by only 70 seconds. Wabash College won the NCAC Conference Championship with 30 points.
Although the women were not sporting beards, they also came out in style. The nationally ranked pack was led by Retrum, who finished eigth, and first-year Emma MacAnally, who finished 11th. Both Retrum and MacAnally finished with all-conference honors.
"It was a great race, but it was tough," Retrum said. "It was really muddy."
The women's team finished in sixth place overall without sophomore Heather O'Brien, who was forced to drop out of the race due to a medical condition. O'Brien is expected to run at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet on Nov. 16 at which the team will run for a spot at Nationals, which on Nov. 23 in Hanover, Ind. Ranked 29th nationally, the lady Tigers is the first women's team to be nationally ranked since 2010. The men's team will also be running at the Great Lakes Regional Meet.
The men will be shaving their faces in the upcoming weeks. However, one big surprise from the conference meet was the Oberlin College women's team. Oberlin won the conference meet with 45 points sporting a fashion statement of their own: unshaved pits.