WCCC Invite Champs!!

The XC teams were back in action today at the Westmoreland County CC Invitational. On a hot and humid day, both teams ran away with the team titles. The women finished the day in first place with 28 points - a solid 29 points ahead of 2nd place finisher Mount Aloysius. This marks the 2nd time in 3 years that our women's team has won this race (the women won the race in 2014 with 43 points). Our top 5 runners all finished within the top-10 of the competition and all 7 of our runners finished in the top-25! Only two of the women had run the course before today - Faith Thackston and Jayla Jones. Faith was on the team that won in 2014 - today she finished in 3rd place with a time of 22:47.4. Jayla ran over a minute faster than last year - her time last year, 26:13; her time this year, 24:55.3. For the other 5 women the course was brand-new to them. Laurie Gotte covered the 5k course in 22:07.4 to finish in 2nd place. In just the second race of their college careers, Michala Garrison and Sarah McCurry helped round out our top-5 finishers. Michala took 6th place with a time of 24:27.3, while Sarah finished in 9th with a time of 24:57.7. Gabrielle Petty ran the course in 26:45.9 and finishing in 13th place. In her first college XC race, Sidonie Brown finished in the top-25 with a time of 30:15.5. Another great meet in the books for the ladies!

The men, just like the women, left Westmoreland with the team title. After not having enough men to field a team at last year's meet, the men came back this year with a bang. The men finished the 5k course in 1st place with 21 points, 45 points ahead of 2nd place finisher - Penn State Fayette. The men had 9 individuals cross the line in the top-15, and all of our guys finished in the top-30!

Robbie Romano lead the way again this year, covering the course faster than any other competitor (not surprising since he set the course record last year). Robbie finished in 1st place (17:16.4), followed by teammate Xavier Alvarez in 2nd (17:54.6). For the 2nd week in a row, the freshmen duo of Tim Wolodkin and Lorenzo Wilson finished in our top-5. Tim crossed the line in 5th place (18:13.6), followed closely by Lorenzo finishing in 6th overall with a time of 18:25.6. Rounding out our top-5 was Tom Burklow, who finished only 4 seconds behind Lorenzo.

In his first race of the season, Matt Whitley took 10th place overall (the same spot he finished last year) in 19:02.5. In spite of running most of the race with some cramping in his calves, Brady Dumonchelle crossed the line in 12th place with a time of 19:31.5. Finishing less than 30 seconds behind Brady, was Zach Talbert and Stan Higham. They finished 13th and 14th respectively, with only 4 seconds separating them.

Hayden Tranter was our next finisher in 16th place with a time of 20:39.5 - 5 places higher than last year and almost 15 seconds faster than last year.

After being injured for this meet last year, a healthier Jon Walton came in 19th place with a time of 21:01.6. Just 12 seconds behind Jon was Nick Saveleski (25th; 21:13.6) and another 12 after Nick was Phillip Hogan (26th; 21:25.2). Rounding out our men's team were Dylan Newberry and Kevin Spradlin. In just his 2nd collegiate meet, Dylan covered the 5k course in 21:49.8 and finished in 28th place. In his 2nd meet as a Bobcat, Kevin crossed the line in 29th overall (15th for the team) with a time of 22:19.3.

Overall, it was a pretty good meet. The heat and humidity got to some people, but everyone worked through it and got across that finish line. Next week the teams compete at the PSU Greater Allegheny Invitational - the men run an 8k and the women run a 6k.

**On a side-note, we had some track & field athletes in action this weekend with their fall sports:

>> Zoe Harris and the volleyball team played 2 matches Friday night. In the match against Washington & Jefferson, Zoe totaled 6 kills and 2 blocks.

>>Holly Van Wie and the field hockey team won their first game in their home tournament. Holly scored the first goal of the game and then assisted on the 3rd goal of the game. They play again tomorrow in the Championship game against Delaware Valley at 1pm.

>>J.R. Lowery and the football team suffered a disappointing loss to nationally ranked #17 Wesley College this afternoon. In the game, J.R. had 4 tackles (3 of which were solo) and accounted for 1 of the 4 sacks on Wesley's QB.