Men’s cross country takes first at home meet

Last Saturday, the men’s and women’s cross country teams returned home to host the Carnegie Mellon Invitational at Schenley Park. The men’s team took first overall among 13 teams with 41 points, while the women’s team finished third out of 14 teams with 82 points. On a beautiful and sunny day, numerous alumni, parents, and friends attended the meet to cheer on Carnegie Mellon. Despite the warm conditions, the Tartan runners took advantage of the home field to deliver some of their best performances so far this season.

On the men’s side, senior Brian Harvey led the team, finishing second overall with a time of 25:26.55. Behind Harvey, sophomores Dan Addis and J.P. Allera took fifth and eighth with times of 26:01.45 and 26:12.64, respectively.

Junior Dario Donatelli took 11th with a time of 26.22.63. Seniors Ryan Anderson and Breck Fresen finished with strong races, taking 16th and 21st overall with times of 26:41.59 and 26:58.37, respectively.

Senior Mike Condon and sophomore Josh Eickmeier took 24th and 37th with times of 27:27.98 and 27:35.46, respectively. First-year Matt Jacob delivered an impressive showing, taking 43rd overall with a time of 27:35.46.

For the women’s team, first-year Liz Stern continued to dominate the running field. She took first overall with a time of 18:51.90. Junior Anna Lenhart and sophomore Courtney Baker finished with 17th and 18th with times of 20:07.20 and 20:19.17, respectively.

“It meant so much to see so many spectators cheering us on today and knowing that they all came to support our team,” said Baker.
First-year Cassie Wallace also ran a solid race, finishing 23rd overall with a time of 20:19.17. Behind Wallace, seniors Carolyn Clayton and Chrissy Krutz crossed the finish line to take 29th and 35th with times of 20:39.94 and 20:50.39, respectively.

Sophomores Laura McKee and Danielle Morse took 41th and 45th overall with times of 21:12.91 and 21:24.53, respectively.

“We came in third overall and were the top Division III team in the field,” Krutz said. “That’s going to be a pretty memorable senior day for me.”

The cross country teams will compete at the Oberlin College Invite, the Inter-Regional Rumble, in Oberlin, Ohio Saturday. The race starts at 10:30 a.m.