By Akshay Kriplani Staff writer
The Susquehanna women’s cross-country team won the Lock Haven Invitational on Sept. 24, beating 17 other teams to claim the victory. The Susquehanna men’s team competed in the same meet, finishing ninth out of 15 teams.
The win was the women’s first team victory in a 6-kilometer race since seizing the 2010 Landmark Conference Championships.
Susquehanna finished with 78 points, one point ahead of the Penn State club team, who came away with 79 points.
Lock Haven came in third place with 106 points.
Seniors Amy Kaschak and Megan Wright and junior Kailyn Reilly all brought home individual hardware by placing in the top 15 in the 206-runner field. Kaschak was seventh with a time of 22:53.60. Wright finished 11th with a time of 23:01.80, and Reilly finished 15th with a time of 23:06.20. Four of Susquehanna’s runners came in the top 20 with freshman Erin Reese coming in 18th.
Nine Susquehanna runners set personal bests on the course. Among those were Wright and Reilly.
Senior Justin Skavery was the top finisher for the men’s team.
He took 40th place in the 202- runner field with his 8-kilometer time of 27:20:10.
“While we did not perform the best race, we certainly showed that we can take a beating and bounce back from it. I have confidence that we can pull through and have some excellent future races,” Skavery said.
There were also four personal bests for the men in the meet. The first one was posted by sophomore Ciaran Fisher who finished with a time of 27:26:50, which earned him 45th.
The next personal best was from junior Mackenzie Greco, who finished with a time of 29:12.20.
Freshmen Brandon Sorge and Robert Masters each posted personal best times with marks of 29:28.90 and 36:37.20 respectively.
After the meet, the Susquehanna women’s team moved up to seventh in the most recent United States Track and Field and Cross- County Coaches Association Mideast Region poll.
This is the first appearance for Susquehanna on the regonal poll this season.
Johns Hopkins currently sits at the top of the poll. The Blue Jays have won the past five regional championships. Elizabethtown is the highest ranked team in the Landmark Conference, having earn a ranking of fourth in the region.
Both teams will be back in action on Oct. 8 at DeSalles.