Men’s and women’s cross country compete in A-10 championships
The St. Joe’s men’s and women’s cross country teams took part in the Atlantic 10 Championships on Oct. 29th. The men finished second overall in a field of 14 behind Dayton University, who finished with 66 points. The women finished 10th in a field of 14 teams.
For the men, graduate student Dan Savage continued his succesful season, reeling in a seventh place finish with a time of 25:28.6 in a race where a total of 117 runners competed. Savage won all A-10 conference honors along with sophomore Zach Michon, who finished 15th with a time of 25:47.8.
Senior Collin Crilly completed the race in 25:55.9, good for 18th place, while junior Shawn Hutchison finished 20th with a time of 25:58.6. The men’s fifth runner was senior David Dorsey, who ran in a time of 26:09.3 and placed 24th.
“It was fantastic,” men’s head coach Mike Glavin said of the men’s performance. “We were ranked sixth going in. Ratings wise, you had Dayton in front of us, George Washington, George Mason, Duquesne and St. Louis. We had some ideas of what might work and what might not and they just executed.”
Glavin noted that the performance was about the best the team ran all year, and Savage was also pleased with the results.
“We were really happy about the outcome today,” Savage said. “Shawn Hutchinson stepped up. He always planned to be up in that top five that we always hoped. Things weren’t working out throughout the season, but today, he really stepped up.”
Due to the favorable results of this race, Savage is optimistic about the upcoming NCAA Mid-Atlantic Championships.
“Top seven is probably our overall goal,” Savage said. “There’s some good teams this year and we’re just gonna try and compete. I know Nova [Villanova University] is not what they usually are, so maybe we could try and take a shot at them; that would be awesome.”
For the women, senior Cassidy Weimer led the way with a 32nd place finish in 18:53.8. Junior Elaine Estes came in 40th, with a time of 19:00.0, setting a new personal record. Junior Lucy Harmon finished with a time of 19:15.4 for 52nd place, while junior Lindsey Oremus crossed the finish line in 55th place at 19:20.4.
“It was not what we expected,” women’s head coach Melody O’Reilly said. “I think we had set our sights on finishing somewhere around fifth place, and we just had a bad day. It happens some days. Even in that bad day, we can have some positive glimmers.”
Despite the team not finishing where they had hoped, O’Reilly was impressed with the performances of Harmon and Estes.
“I think for Lucy Harmon, she ran a gutsy race,” O’Reilly said. “She just went out too hard and really lost most of her places over the last 800 meters of the race, which was really tough. Elaine Estes also had a great race. She ran a PR [personal record] and looked very strong and confident throughout. She did what she was capable of doing.”
Freshman Abigail Silva also proved herself in her first A-10 championship race.
“I thought Abigail Silva, our only freshman that was there, did really really well,” O’Reilly said. “I thought she kept her cool and she ran a tough race.”
In terms of rebounding, O’Reilly is focusing on keeping this race in the past.
“We just have to put it behind us and move on, and we have go forward into the Mid-Atlantic Regional meet with a positive attitude and really run like the team we are,” O’Reilly said.
Both teams will travel to Bethlehem, Pa. for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships on Nov. 10.
