BETHANY, W.V. — The FUS men's and women's cross country squad continued to test and improve their skills, setting several new personal records at the Bethany Invitational.
With the team's top nine women and top seven men resting for the National Catholic Championships, the final results did not indicate the full team's ability. The Lady Barons placed 13 out of 14 teams while the Barons were 13 out of 16. Individually, however, the new runners pushed themselves, shaving minutes of their previous times.
"The more races they run at this level, the better off they're getting," head coach Dan Kuebler said of the team that comprised of mostly freshmen and new runners. "Bethany was a pretty good course and most of them had their best time of the year.
Freshman runner Catherine Hall paced the Lady Barons, finishing first for her team and sixty-third out of 149 runners with a time of 28:31, a minute faster than her previous PR.
"Catherine ran a very smart race, went out at a good pace and just started passing people as the race went on," Kuebler said. "It was really impressive."
Hall was followed by freshman Arianna Purcell, junior Jenni Gray, and sophomore Sabina Abbadessa who finished seventieth, seventy-second, and seventy-ninth respectively, with times of 29:05, 29:07, and 29:46.
"We had a really good day on the women's side,"Kuebler said. "Six of the eight women competing today PRed, and they all ran really well."
The Barons were led by sophomore David Byers, who finished forty-fourth of 156 runners with a time of 29:12.
"David ran a really good race," Kuebler said, adding that he was also particularly impressed with some of the freshmen's performances, including Ricky Staniszewski and Joe Lamontagne who finished second and third for Franciscan and sixty-fourth and seventieth overall with times of 30:27 and 30:35.
With another competition under the newer runner's belts, Kuebler was glad to see significant improvements that indicate the overall progress of the team as the season continues.
"It was nice to have the opportunity to focus on the jv runners, see where they are and, give them a chance to compete at a good meet that has a relatively fast course," Kuebler said.
The remainder of the team will compete at the Notre Dame National Catholic Championships in South Bend, Indiana on September 19 at 2:20pm.
