College Cross Country
Rider at Penn State National Invitational
STATE COLLEGE, PA?The Broncs competed at the Penn State National Invitational Friday, with the Rider men finishing 19th of 28 teams and the Rider women finishing 21st of 28 teams. “The women ran great,” said head coach Bob Hamer said. “They have really bought into it and executed the race plan. This is the best women's team we've had. For the men, from two through five we had great grouping with just 30 seconds separating them which is what you hope for.”
For the Rider men, sophomore Christian Gonzalez (Somerset/Franklin Twp.) placed 21st overall among the 301 runners, covering the 5.2 mile race on the PSU Blue/White Golf Course in a Rider-record 25:47. “Chris broke the previous Rider record by a lot,” Hamer said. “That's by far the best anyone from Rider has ever run here.”
“It was a good race with a fast pace,” said Gonzalez. “I was able to stay up and came out with a good time.”
Georgetown, ranked eighth in the nation, won the men's race, followed by host Penn State and 28th ranked Villanova. Rider placed ahead of Akron, Bloomsburg, Messiah, George Washington, Mount St. Mary's, Hofstra, Saint Francis, Wake Forest and Robert Morris.
“I like running against good competition like this,” Gonzalez said. “They pushed me today.”
For the Rider women, freshman Heather Giovagnoli (Royersford, PA/Spring Ford) placed 84th among the 300 runners, covering the 6,000m course in 22:32. Senior Kelly Wojciehowski (Fair Haven/Rumson-Fair Haven) placed 90th (22:45) and senior Megan Crowe (Philadelphia, PA/St. Hubert's) 114th (23:08). All three broke the Rider record for the Penn State course.
“It went really good today,” said Wojciehowski. “It was a lot better than last year for me personally. Last year I ran 23:49 and today I was a minute faster. We've done harder work outs, we've been really focused as a team, working together.”
West Virginia, ranked seventh in the nation, won the women's race, followed by host Penn State and 25th ranked Wake Forest. “The high level of competition is fun to run against,” Wojciehowski said. “They usually beat us but it definitely makes us run faster.”
The Rider women finished ahead of UConn, Villanova, George Washington, Messiah, Hofstra, Mount St. Mary's and Robert Morris. “We beat some really good teams and I'm really excited about that,” Hamer said. “They are running with a lot of confidence right now. They are competing with tremendous heart. They really believe in themselves. Their training is really translating into some great results on the course.”
Also for the Rider men, sophomore Michael Soroko (Kinnelon) was 130th (27:30), senior Matt Dahl (West Keansburg/Raritan) 131st (27:32), junior Robert McCullough (Plymouth Meeting, PA/La Salle) placed 136th (27:39) and sophomore Peter Wandell (State College, PA) placed 155th (28:00).
“The big key was Soroko and Dahl really stepped up,” Hamer said. “I challenged them last week to give us a big effort and they answered the call this week. They did a great job.”
“We came focusing on running as a team and we took care of what we needed to do,” said Dahl, who ran his personal best at PSU. “We left the course today with a pretty good feeling. We finished higher than anticipated. To succeed as a team we have to run as a team. It is great to have Christian up in the front, but after him we have to compete as a team in order to have any success. This is the best our team has done here.”
The race also marked the return to form of McCullough. “The big key was getting Bob McCullough back,” Hamer said. “At the end of the summer he had an injury and we've been nursing him back to where he is pretty close to where he is capable of running. He did an outstanding job for us today. I was really excited about that.”
Also for the Rider women, sophomore Chelsea Callan (Hazlet/Raritan) placed 128th (23:25) and freshman Amanda Quinones (Trumball, CT) placed 155th (24:03).
“We're in a great position to have some good results at the conference meet,” Hamer said.
Rider competes in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships November 1 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. “I think we're ready for the MAAC Championships,” Dahl said. “We're excited about going to Disney and we've gotten so much better,” Wojciehowski said. “I feel like I'm in good shape for MAACs,” Gonzalez said. “I like running in warm weather.”
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