The PSUC cross-country teams competed in the SLU Hoffman Invitational last weekend and now have a week to prepare for the Hamilton College Invitational and the road to the SUNYAC and regional races.
On the men’s side, Nathan Doyle and Ethan Vinson came out and performed as the top two finishers for PSUC, achieving 10th and 12th place respectively. Doyle and Vinson led the team to a fourth place finish, beating a tough Clarkson team who had beaten them at the previous three meets.
The women ran in their first 6K of the season and came out strong with Katie Ehmann leading the women with an eighth-place finish.
Sophomore Morgan Deming ran a time that was 1 minute 17 seconds faster than what she did last year at the same meet. She said one of the main reasons for this was her teammates working together and having them all run in a pack using the skills they learned in practice.
Head coach Andrew Krug said Deming ran an outstanding race and the pack strategy helped the team finish in third place.
Deming said the extra week off will give the team time to train harder for the coming meets and give an important recovery time to get the body back in shape for Hamilton. At Hamilton, the women will be going back down to a 5K.
Freshman Lindsey Davenport said the extra week off will benefit her by giving her the chance to rest her body and be more prepared for the next race.
“I think with the extra week off, my body will get ready for racing again,” Davenport said.
Krug said the next two weeks will give the team the chance to make sure everyone is ready for the coming races in Hamilton and UAlbany. The team will have the chance to train harder, and Krug will be able to see who the most competitive runners will be.
“Sort of a last chance for our runners to get out and show us what they have as we look to narrow thing down for our postseason squads, where we can only run our top 14 at SUNYACs and our top seven at regionals,” Krug said.
The extra week of down time will give the runners the chance to prepare for the harder races to come, and Krug said it gives the team the chance to continue with volume, make sure the team is healthy for the next races and see the runners who are prepared for the SUNYACs and regionals.
Email Nick Topping at sports@cardinalpointsonline.com.
