Cross country preps for A-10s at Rider Invitational
The Saint Joseph’s University men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Rider University this past weekend. The men’s team placed sixth in a field of eight for the 8k Rider Invitational held at Rosedale Park.
According to men’s Head Coach Mike Glavin, none of the Hawks who ran at Rider had run at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational the previous weekend. Glavin wanted to bring a different group to Rider to allow all of the runners on the roster to participate in a race—some races limit the number of runners each school can bring.
“It was a much better performance with the group that we took there than it might seem on the scoring part,” Glavin said. “There was an awful lot of good racing going on.”
Making his collegiate debut, freshman Zach Michon was St. Joe’s number one runner, placing 21st overall. Michon finished the 8k in a time of 25:20.2, just 0.1 seconds behind the 20th-place runner.
“I kind of went out there and gave it my all,” Michon said. “I knew it was really tough because of the extra distance [and] the change from the distance of high school. I just kept telling myself, ‘Don’t slow down. Don’t slow down. It’s only two miles more.’”
Glavin was impressed with Michon’s race, especially given that it was the first 8k of his running career.
“Zach Michon’s race was really nice, in particular for a kid who’s used to racing three miles in high school,” Glavin said. “He was in his first five-mile race, and the best part of his race was the last 2,000 meters he was coming forward. In the last mile and a quarter, he probably picked up 10 [or] 12 spots. That’s a lot of racing savvy for a kid that’s just coming in.”
Glavin was also impressed with the rest of the team’s performances, particularly those of redshirt junior Dan Savage and sophomore transfer Eddie Leonard.
Savage has been injured since February, so the Invitational was his first race in seven months. He finished as St. Joe’s fourth runner and 44th overall with a time of 25:41.1.
Leonard was St. Joe’s fifth runner, coming in 50th overall with a time of 25:52.7. His previous 8k PR was 29:02.3, set at the Lafayette Leopard Invitational.
“Lafayette has some serious hills and some challenges, whereas this course is a real fast go getter,” Glavin said. “But it doesn’t account for three minutes and 10 seconds… So that was just a phenomenal race.”
Junior Dave Garton and sophomore Tommy Higley placed 39th and 41st, respectively, to come in as St. Joe’s second and third runners. Of the 14 Hawks with 8k PRs going into the race, nine of them set new PRs.
The women’s team also had an impressive weekend, placing third in a field of nine.
“Placing in the top three is great, especially behind an Atlantic 10 team, [the University of] Richmond, we weren’t that far behind,” senior Sarah Regnault said. “Knowing that we were relatively tired, it’s pretty exciting to think that when we get to A-10s we’ll be there and able to actually show up and compete with this team.”
Sophomore Lindsay Oremus led the Hawks with a 6.15k time of 22:15.1, good for seventh place overall. Regnault finished just 1.5 seconds behind Oremus for St. Joe’s number two spot.
“It was funny because of how I operate in races I usually start in the back and work my way up. Lindsay likes to take it out and hold her pace the entire time, which is great,” Regnault said. “We finished the race right neck-and-neck. It’s great to have a teammate right by your side. She’s great to work with in workouts and on the trails.”
Junior Cassidy Weimer finished 20th overall with a time of 22:55.8. Freshmen Meredith Twomey and Emily Bracken rounded out the scoring for St. Joe’s with 22nd and 31st place performances, respectively. Twomey’s 6.15k time was faster than her 6k time from the previous weekend by 1:14.
“It’s exciting because I know that once I graduate, there’s still going to be so much for them to achieve together,” Regnault said of the freshman and sophomore classes. “Probably even winning A-10s eventually, which is awesome.”
The team’s next meet will be the Paul Short Run at Lehigh University on Oct. 1.
