Men’s cross country wins third at regionals

Junior Brian Harvey won the NCAA Division III Mideast Cross Country Regional Championship Saturday, beating nearly 300 runners. Harvey finished the 8K race at Lehigh University with a personal best time of 24:44, becoming the first Carnegie Mellon student to win a regional.

Harvey led the men’s team to a third-place finish overall out of 41 teams, with 71 points. Haverford College won the men’s team championship with 45 points. Allegheny College took second with 52 points. Haverford and Allegheny received automatic bids to the NCAA Division III National Championships.

For the Tartans, fifth-year Geoff Misek and sophomore Dario Donatelli finished close behind Harvey, taking 12th and 15th overall with times of 25:11 and 25:15, respectively.

“My performance was okay, but next week I’m going to make it a point to not let a couple of those Allegheny kids beat me,” Misek said.

Junior Breck Fresen and first-year J.P. Allera placed 18th and 25th overall with times of 25:19 and 25:36, respectively. Juniors Ryan Anderson and Mike Condon finished 35th and 54th overall with times of 25:43 and 26:28.

“With six of seven runners well under 26:00 and listed as All-Regional Runners, along with Harvey’s victory, we showed that we can hold our own with the best of them,” Anderson said.

On the women’s side, despite having a young team, the Tartans finished 16th out of 37 teams with 522 points in the 6K race.

Every runner on the women’s team finished her season with a personal best time. Junior Carolyn Clayton led the Tartans, placing 60th overall with a time of 23:42.

First-year Rebecca Hachey took 89th overall with a time of 24:04. Sophomore Anna Lenhart and junior Chrissy Krutz finished 106th and 128th overall with times of 24:24 and 24:46, respectively.

“Everyone on the team set a personal record today,” Krutz said. “It was a fast course and the conditions were great for racing. We have a really young team with three of the seven runners racing being freshmen. Overall, everyone did a great job.”

First-year Kristen Staab and senior Erin Gagnon took 145th and 157th overall with times of 24:56 and 25:09, respectively. First-year Laura McKee finished 165th overall (25:25).

The runners credited head coach Dario Donatelli for much of their success this season. “Coach Donatelli has done a great job this season meeting each athlete where they are and coaching on an individual basis,” Condon said. “I’m very pleased with how he’s helped the team improve over the course of the season.”

While the women’s team season has ended, the men’s team will wait to hear if their third-place finish was enough to advance to the national championships at St. Olaf College in Minnesota Saturday. The top two teams in each regional automatically advance to nationals, but 16 additional teams will receive a bid. The Tartans will find out the committee’s selections today.