PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Despite the absence of some top runners, Franciscan men's and women's cross country teams readjusted and set some new marks at the Carnegie Mellon Invite in Pittsburgh, placing 8 of 13 and 12 of 17 teams respectively.
With nearly a month of training since their last meet, the teams were able to re-energize and fine tune their race for the second half of their season. Head coach Dan Kuebler said the time off showed in the team's performances in Pittsburgh.
"They've put in a lot of work and you can see it starting to pay off for them now," Kuebler said. "It was a much bigger, competitive meet than the last few and it was a particularly challenging course, but there were a lot of promising times today."
The Barons were led by freshmen Graham Martin and Tim Jackson who raced neck and neck to place fifty-eighth and sixty-second respectively out of 173 total runners, with times of 27:40.5 and 27:44.5. They were closely followed by sophomore Emmet Delaney, who placed seventy-second and ran a time of 28:02.7.
"This was probably the best race of the season for the guys," Kuebler said, adding that several of the runners achieved personal records, among them Martin and Jackson, who broke 28 minutes for the first time.
"It's good late in the season to see times start to drop, particularly for Graham and Tim," Kuebler said. "It's great to see the freshmen in particular developing into quality runners."
The Barons were missing their usual top two runners John Redmond and Patrick Flanagan but managed to finish well as a whole, which Kuebler said demonstrates the team's depth.
The Lady Barons also struggled with several absences due to injury and sickness but persevered against four Division I and II teams as well as several DIII teams to beat out several conference and non-conference opponents.
Sydney Novak led the women, placing 91 of 193 runners, with a time of 21:24.6. Coming in 100 and 101 were Elise Zajicek and Kate Porter, who ran 21:55.3 and 21:57.8 respectively.
"We just need to get everybody healthy and a little bit more focused as we near the end of the season," Kuebler said. "Hopefully next week we'll have the entire top 10 women on the course at the same time, racing together and we'll be able to see where we really are as a team."
With just one more meet before the AMCC Championships, Kuebler said this race and the next will help prepare the team for their final competition of the season.
The Barons and Lady Barons will next travel to the Intra-Regional Rumble at Oberlin College on Saturday, October 18 at 10:30am.
"If we get the whole team out there running I think we're going to do well," Kuebler said. "It's a flat, fast course and it will give us a chance to see where we're at and get ourselves ready for the conference championship. A lot of people are shaping up to improve their times."
