The Gannon University men’s cross country team finished fifth among 10 teams competing Saturday at the Allegheny Invitational in Meadville.
Joseph Westrick led the Knights again, turning in a third-place finish among the 116 individuals who took part in the event.
Westrick finished the four-mile race in 20 minutes, 48 seconds, 18 seconds behind the winner, Harley Moyer, of Washington & Jefferson College, and barely a second after Liam Walsh from Carnegie Mellon.
Westrick was followed closely by Matt Svetz of Allegheny at 20:50 and Michael Obroin of Carnegie Mellon at 20:53.
Carnegie Mellon finished with 31 points to take the team title, followed by Case Western (63), Allegheny (97) and Washington & Jefferson (104). Gannon placed fifth with 123 points.
After Westrick, Gannon’s top finisher was
Ryan Garich, who finished 38th overall at 22:18 while Eric Ingram wound up 42nd at 22:23.
Other Gannon finishers were Garrett Sutton (51st, 22:50), Kyle Martin (70th, 23:40), Brett Whitty (80th, 24:11), Maxwell Battaglia (86th, 24:48) and Mitchel Daubert (87th, 24:55).
The race was the first four-mile competition of each Gannon runner’s collegiate career, falling between a 6 and 7K at 6.43 km.
Carnegie Mellon is nationally ranked by the
USTFCCCA, while Washington & Jefferson and Case Western are both regionally ranked.
The Knights will head to Rochester, N.Y., Monday for the Roberts Wesleyan Invitational; a year ago the Knights won the meet and Westrick finished second individually.
In the women’s competition at Meadville, Gannon wound up fifth. Meredith Morse led the Knights with a seventh-place finish in the three-mile event with a time of 18:49.
The remainder of Gannon’s top-five finshers were Grace McGrath (11th, 19:12), Cameron Perry (32nd, 20:07), Alena Wisniewski (46th, 20:29) and Taylor Roberts (51st, 20:55).
KEEFER GREGOIRE
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