AIDAN POLLARD
Special to the Leader
The Blue Devils cross country program continued their season this weekend with the second 5,000 meter race for the women and the first 8,000 meter race for the men at Penn State Behrend.
In collegiate cross country points are scored by the top five individuals from each team, with the sixth and seventh runners counting as displacement runners, who are scored only if there is a tie between two teams. Each runner scores points equal to his or her overall place in the race, and the team with the lowest score wins.
The Fredonia women secured a second place spot at the meet and were lead by sophomore Hannah Kurbs and senior Kristen Guarino.
“I knew what I had to do,” said Kurbs. “Just work with my teammates to get through this race, so I was pretty confident going in.” Kurbs finished the race in fourth place overall with a time of 19:53.1, and Guarino finished with a time of 20:05.5 in fifth place.
Kurbs and Guarino were followed by sophomores Emily Maguire and Brenna Donovan, and freshman Sarah Kurbs to round out the scoring five, with senior Madison Courtney and freshman Sarah Buckley crossing the line as displacement runners. “We have a very good starting spread, with a lot of new people running,” said Kurbs. “We’re pretty versatile. Everyone steps up to the plate, and I’m really excited to see where this team grows because so far we’re looking really strong.”
The Fredonia men were led to a third place spot by senior Merlin Joseph, who ran a time of 26:30.0 for a third place finish overall.
“I was feeling pretty confident,” said Joseph. “I put in a lot of miles and had a plan going into it. It was just a matter of executing.” Junior Ethan Francis followed for a fifth place overall finish with a time of 26:44.1.
The remainder of the scoring five consisted of freshmen Wesley Cruz and Ryan Dunning, and sophomore Zak Kellerman, with sophomore Aidan Pollard and senior Mitch Loiacano coming in as displacement runners. “I was excited to see where the freshmen would finish,” said Francis. “Since they have only ever run 5,000 meters, and this is a five mile race.”
Francis continued, stating, “I don’t think we’ve shown what we’re fully capable of, because there’s been a lot of sickness going around so I’m just waiting for everyone to get healthy.”
Joseph also commented on the health of the team, saying, “We were trying to get everybody back, so mentally for me I just knew we had to stay patient, try to get everybody back and healthy.”
Francis and Joseph both expressed hope for the program going into the upcoming meet at Williams College in Massachusetts. “I think we’ll have a lot more confidence,” said Joseph.
The Blue Devils will be facing off against a large number of teams at the Williams meet, including SUNYAC rivals, Geneseo. The meet will take place on Sept. 23.