Tiffin University's All-American cross country runner James Ngandu opened 2017 in strong fashion, winning the Back to the Nature Preserve Open hosted by Bluffton University.

Ngandu posted a time of 18:28.6, leading the field by 12 seconds over Ohio Northern's Ian McVey. The Dragons finished 6th of 9 teams overall.

Trenton Yoder was next for Tiffin in 29th place in 20:15.9, while Josh Jaster was 41st in 20:43.4. Also landing in the top 50 was Nicholas Runco (48th in 20:51.3).

Other finishers for Tiffin included Chase Brentlinger (53rd), Jordan Hill (55th), Dustin Hardesty (60), Nigel Carlton (61), Brandon O'Linn (63), Isaac Boateng (71), Alex Heckman (77), Owen Starkweather (80), Lane Sidner (83), and Daniel Maher (88).

For the women, Alyse Dietz was the top finisher in 47th in 21:47.9 as the Dragons finished 9th of 10.

Jordan Grzegorczyk was next in 53rd in 21:58.9, while Jada Gilliam (61), Ruthie Wyant (63), and Kimea Lawrence (75) also competed.