Cross country competes in Paul Short Run
The Saint Joseph’s University men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in both the Gold Race and the open race at the Paul Short Run this past Saturday, Oct. 1.
The men’s team placed 18th overall in a field of 38 teams in the Gold Race.
“In looking at that skill [from the other teams] and know where we were training-wise, I was hoping to be 14th to 16th, so we weren’t too far off the goal,” men’s Head Coach Mike Glavin said. “This race showed us things we should work on, and it was also a significantly better race than the one we ran at Penn State three weeks ago. I think that’s a move in the right direction.”
Junior David Dorsey led the team, finishing in 82nd place, in a field of 336 racers. Dorsey finished the 8k race in 24:40.
“It was a very big race, so a lot of what I was thinking during the race was to continue moving forward,” Dorsey said. “One of my goals this year was to come in under 25 minutes. I finally did it, which is pretty good.”
Sophomore Shawn Hutchison (25:02), sophomore Justin Branco (25:09), and senior John Mascioli (25:10) finished within eight-seconds of one another as St. Joe’s second, third, and fourth place runners. Redshirt junior Dan Savage rounded out the scoring with a time of 25:16.
“We had a pretty nice, tight group,” Glavin said. “I think there were about 41 seconds for seven guys. The chink in our armor today was the time gap, and therefore the points… The way that our two, three, four, five, six, seven came in is what we want, but they have to pull that 10 or 12 seconds closer to Dorsey.”
Three other Atlantic 10 teams—La Salle University (16th), the University of Massachusetts (29th), and George Washington University (31st)—also competed at the run.
“It was very important [to see the A-10 teams], particularly La Salle,” Dorsey said. “They’re one of the best teams in the conference. They beat us by two spots in the meet. 27 points sounds like a lot, but in that size of a meet, it’s pretty close still.”
Freshman Josh Clark led the Hawks in the open race with a time of 25:26, good for 38th place overall. Fellow freshman Zach Michon finished three-seconds behind Clark for 41st place.
“Those guys ran phenomenally, I thought,” Glavin said. “If you look at your first guy in the open race running five-seconds behind your seventh man in the Gold, that’s pretty nice.”
The women’s cross country team came in 34th out of 45 teams in the Gold Race.
“Although we were 34th as a team, we had really strong performances within the team,” women’s Head Coach Melody O’Reilly said. “We had a lot of people run their personal bests, and I really can’t ask for anything more than that.”
Sophomore Lindsey Oremus clocked in as St. Joe’s top runner with a 6k time of 21:35, good for a 129th place finish in a field of 405 total competitors.
“I didn’t feel great during my race,” Oremus said. “It was definitely one of those where I had to keep the mental side of things kind of good in my mind… I ended up running my best time, so that’s great, but I think if I felt a little bit better, it would have been an even better outcome.”
Junior Cassidy Weimer and senior Sarah Regnault both finished the race in under 22 minutes, with times of 21:44 and 21:47, respectively. Freshmen Emily Bracken (22:42) and Meridith Twomey (22:53) rounded out the scoring for the Hawks.
“Honestly, the freshmen are doing exactly what I thought they’d be doing when I recruited them,” O’Reilly said. “The goal was for them to be in my top seven, and if they could be in my top five, that would be even better. And they’re doing that… There were many people who had great races… I’m very proud of them.”
Four A-10 teams—George Washington (tied 23rd), La Salle (38th), Massachusetts (39th), and Virginia Commonwealth University (44th)—competed in the women’s Gold Race.
“That’s a big deal for us,” O’Reilly said. “[Senior] Julia Jenkins actually did not complete the race. She went down right after the two-mile mark with an asthma attack. We lost our number four runner and still finished ahead of those two teams [La Salle and Massachusetts]. That makes me very, very happy.”
Freshman Michaela Urbach clocked in with a time of 23:16 in the open race, good for a 103rd place finish in a field of 403 runners. Sophomore Maggie Malloy finished seven-seconds behind Urbach.
Overall, O’Reilly and Oremus were pleased with the team’s performance, and believe they’re on the right path to performing well at the A-10 Championships.
“From this point last year to this point this year, we’re ahead of the game,” Oremus said. “I think that we’re in a good spot. I feel very confident with our training. I’m very confident in my teammates.”
Both teams will race at the Princeton Invitational and the Leopard Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 15.
