NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Franciscan University Cross Country team had a promising first weekend, demonstrating its depth at the Westminster Fisher Invitational with the men's team placing first out of seven teams and the women's team coming in fourth overall.
"It was a really encouraging day, particularly with the guys," head coach Dan Kuebler said. "It was a tough course, a little longer than normal for the guys, and it was relatively hot, so it was not an easy day running, but they all did really well."
Junior John Redmond led the Barons to victory, placing fifth individually with a time of 29:53.
"John has been really strong at practice and now he's translating that into doing really well at the meets," Kuebler said. "He's worked hard and he deserves this, so it's good to see his hard work paying off."
Just a few runners later, the Barons showed their depth with senior captain Patrick Flanagan and sophomores David Byers and Emmet Delaney placing in eighth, ninth, and tenth place respectively.
"We had a really nice tight pack, our first five runners finishing within a minute of each other, so that made a huge difference," Kuebler said, adding that this is the first time the men's team has won an invitational in several years.
Aiding the top four runners were freshmen Graham Martin and Tim Jackson placing in the top 15 to boost the team's overall score.
"This is probably the deepest guys team we've ever had. We've had a couple strong runners before but we've never had 1 through 8 as strong as we are right now," Kuebler said. "It's a really nice start to the season."
The Lady Barons also beat out several competitors thanks to strong performances by seniors Sydney Novak, Allyson Heuselman, and Kate Porter along with junior Colene Smith.
All four runners finished within a few seconds of each other and looked strong for the first meet.
"All of them ran about 2 minutes faster than they did last year on the same course so that was really encouraging," Kuebler said.
Novak placed second overall with a time of 24:34 in her first-ever collegiate race, surprising both her coaches and herself.
"Sidney had a great race today. She's really talented," Kuebler said. "I don't think she or the coaches have realized what her potential is yet, but I think she's got a lot more in her."
Kuebler added that he was pleased by the women's team performance as a whole, particularly since they were missing a few runners, due to injury and an alternate meet at Wooster.
"You never know what will happen as the season goes on but we got off to a good start," Kuebler said. "I'm looking forward to the next week or two, getting the whole team to race together in one meet to see exactly how strong we are."
As the team looks forward to hosting the very first FUS Invitational on September 6, Kuebler said they will focusing on hill workouts and becoming familiar with the brand new home course.
