Pitt
Princeton Invitational
Women Place Third, Men Sixth at Princeton Invitational
10/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
PRINCETON, N.J. – The University of Pittsburgh women’s cross country team placed third at the Princeton Invitational while the men took sixth place on Saturday morning.
“Today’s performance by both teams was an important step in the right direction as we get closer to the ACC and Mid-Atlantic Regional Meet,” head coach Alonzo Webb said. “Today was an opportunity to see how we match up with the top teams in our region. I’m very happy with how we competed but of course there is more work to be done until we are satisfied. Coach [Adam] Bray and Coach [Bryan] Jackson are doing an outstanding job preparing our teams.”
Sophomore Melanie Vlasic was Pitt’s top finisher as she crossed the line in 15th place overall with a career-best time of 21:35.
She was followed by freshman Gillian Schriever who was eight seconds behind in a time of 21:43.6 which was good for 17th place, which was also a new PR.
Rounding out the scoring for Pitt was Dee Dee Adams who took 22nd overall in 21:50.5, Hillary Boxheimer in 24th (21:55.8) and Beth Shenck in 33rd (22:13.9 - PR).
Penn took the crown for the women, followed by Guelph (Canadian school), Pitt, Duquesne and Maryland-Baltimore County.
On the men’s side, Aaron Lauer led the Panthers and placed 25th overall in a time of 24:36.3. Junior Wes Roberts was Pitt’s second finisher and took 42nd place in 24:59.5.
A half second behind Roberts was Ryan Hughes in 44th (25:00.4), and he was followed by Sebastian Curtin (49th – 25:04.1) and Billy Caldwell (53rd – 25:06.2).
Impressively enough, all five of Pitt’s men’s scorers had career-best races at Princeton.
Penn also won the men’s team race, and was followed by Villanova, Guelph, La Salle, UMBC and Pitt.
The Panthers are now headed to the ACC Championship Meet in two weeks hosted by Florida State. The meet is set for Friday, October 30.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES:
Women's Coach Adam Bray: "I thought today went really well for us. Our main objective of this weekend was to preview the regional course. The girls were able to execute our race plan and I was very pleased with their effort today. I think the team gained a lot of confidence from the race and that will help for when we return in a few weeks for the regional meet."
Men's Coach Bryan Jackson: "I am very proud of how the men competed today. I am excited to see how we continue to grow as a team over the next few weeks. Our top five guys continue to compete as a tight pack with only a 29 second gap between runners 1-5."
