Tiffin's men crossed the line first, but an untethered line kept the Dragons from a win.
The Dragons hosted a special "centipede" meet Saturday, one in which each team's runners are tethered together by string or rope.
Each team started with the requisite seven runners, and rules stipulated each unit had to have at least five of them still connected at the finish line to qualify for the final team standings.
In both the men's 6K and women's 4K races, TU chose to put its top runner in the middle, with the other six connected to him or her separately, much like the spokes of wheel connected to a hub.
Tiffin's top group of men finished in 20 minutes, but when the final group of five Dragons - two had to disconnect themselves along the way - got within 20 meters of the finish line, one of the lines fell away. That caused that group of TU runners to be disqualified from the team standings.
Brent Hunter, David Knack, Colin Fisher, Jimmy Charles, Alex Frey, Kevin McKown and Kyle Anderson ran for TU's first group.
Heidelberg wound up winning the men's race in 20:31, followed by Ohio Northern (21:00).
Jacob Huffman, John Gogle, Jordan Karnes, Gaerth Graver and Kevin Neel ran for the champion Student Princes.
Tiffin's second group - Mike Grunden, Chris Wolcott, Nick Rader, Nick Shepherd, Zach Lee, Tyler Rogers and Eli Reed - took third (22:35).
Shaun Borland (29:08), Matt Buschur (21:34), Travis Kempf (23:30), Lakota graduate Kyle Babcock (23:44), Marcus Boedeker (25:24) and Nicholas Klawitter (26:49) also ran for TU.
Heidelberg's Dustin Kuess (21:26), Drew Avsec (21:39), Logan Leis (21:57), David Kindall (23:07) and Jared McFadden (22:47) ran unattached.
Tiffin took second in the women's 4K, crossing in 16:31. Mount Union won in 15:38.
Lakota graduate Carly Reese, Ashley Gilroy, Old Fort graduate Becky Miller, Jessica Kern and Jennifer Colone ran for the runner-up Dragons.
The group of Trina McKown, Ashley Madison, Samantha Smith and Emily Richmond finished fifth in 17:05 for TU.
Stephanie Markel (18:50), Jessica Corns (19:10) and Cassandra Conkle (22:56) also ran for Tiffin.
Heidelberg took eighth (17:51), with Bobbi Custer, Sophie Goobic, Jocelyn Staugler, Rachael Brushaber and Julia Darling running.
Upper Sandusky graduate Kesley Swavel (19:01), Jordan Barker (20:39), Libby Engeman (20:59) and Leah Boileau (21:32) ran unattached for the Student Princes.
Dragons drop a pair
TAMPA - Tiffin University's volleyball team lost two matches Saturday at the Tampa Classic, falling to 0-4.
The Dragons lost 25-23, 25-11, 25-18 to Clarion and 25-14, 25-21, 28-26 to No. 15 Lewis.
Lindsay Heller came up with 22 digs for TU and Danielle McQuade smacked 24 kills.
HU volleyball opens with sweep
ADA - Nationally-ranked Heidelberg opened the volleyball season with a pair three-game wins Friday at the Ohio Northern University Invitational.
The No. 12 Student Princes beat Trine (Ind.) University 25-13, 25-12, 25-17 and Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) University 25-18, 25-15, 25-5.
Vanessa Haase slammed 10 kills against Trine, and Amber Welfle and New Riegel graduate Jackie Reinhart each hammered eight. Reinhart also served four aces and came up with 10 digs.
Rachel Ferguson (14) and Calvert graduate Alexa Frank (10) combined for 24 assists, Marian Bevington slammed four blocks and Tessa Benanzer had seven digs.
In the match with Carnegie Mellon, Bevington drilled 11 kills, Ferguson tossed up 13 assists, Reinhart and Haase both slammed seven kills and Benanzer tallied 11 digs.
TU holds off Bellarmine
Ashton Campbell scored twice and added an assist Friday as Tiffin University held off Bellarmine 3-2 in the season-opening soccer match for both teams.
Emmanuel Adjei converted a Campbell pass to put TU up 1-0 a little more than eight minutes into the game.
Campbell scored his first goal about seven and a half minutes later to let the Dragons enjoy a 2-0 halftime lead, then booted in another from 30-yards out early in the second half for a 3-0 lead.
Both of Campbell's goals came off Michael O'Neill assists.
The Knights rallied back on two Shane Mihaljevic goals.
Jeremy Ashley had three saves for TU.
Dragons open with a tie
Tiffin and Bellarmine battled to a 1-all tie Friday in the season-opening women's soccer game for both teams.
Shelly Rogers gave TU a 1-0 halftime lead off an assist from Ashley Davis.
The Knights knotted the game just before the 58th minute with Chelsea McCarty headed in a free kick from Lauren Triplett.
Bellarmine out-shot the Dragons 30-6, with the Knights getting four shots in the first overtime and none in the second, while TU had none in the first extra period and one in the second.
Tiffin's Lindsey Gallagher had 11 saves.
