The men's and women's cross country teams once again traveled across the river to PA for the DeSales Invitational hosted by DeSales University. This invitational was much larger than last week and once again RCSJ was the only Junior College in attendance. The course offered a mix of terrain and some challenging hills. Despite the challenging course, almost all of the Roadrunners set personal bests for the season, a good indication of their great preparation for the championship meets ahead.
The women's team was led by Courtney O'Hara with the highest finish of the day in 31st place. Next was a trio consisting of Gabby Szwed (110), Maddy O'Donnell (116), and Grace Wahl (118) respectively. Wrapping up the scoring were Francesca Maccarone (133) and Georgia Lorenzetti (134). As a team, the women placed 11th in the 17 team field.
The men's team has had several runners swap places in the top spots over the past few races. This week, CJ Gilmore led the pack with his 64th place finish. Next was a duo of Evan Bongard and Branden Lachowicz who placed 85th and 88th respectively. The next group of Roadrunners were Walker Osborne (109), Sean Gallo (121), and Kevin Profico (131) working together to push each other to seasonal bests. Rounding out the flock were Gary Schwegel (150) and Mike Thomas (155) to also lead the team to an 11th place finish in the 17 team NCAA field.
Next up for both teams is the St. Joseph's Invitational in Long Island, NY to give the RCSJ teams a chance to see more of their New York competition before post-season championship races.
DeSales Inv.
DeSales University, Center Valley, PA
Women's 6k
31. Courtney O'Hara 26:15
110. Gabriella Szwed 32:49
116. Madison O'Donnell 33:48
118. Grace Wahl 33:58
133. Francesca Maccarone 37:03
134. Georgia Lorenzetti 38:52
Team finished 11th out of 17 teams
Men's 8k
64. CJ Gilmore 29:26
85. Branden Lachowicz 30:10
88. Evan Bongard 30:29
109. Walker Osborne 31:39
121. Sean Gallo 32:12
131. Kevin Profico 32:53
150. Gary Schwegel 35:08
155. Michael Thomas 35:20
Team finished 11th out of 17 teams