Akron // Joe Piane Cross Country Invitational
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The University of Akron men's and women's cross country teams garnered a pair of top-five team finishes at the Joe Piane-Notre Dame Invitational on Friday, Oct. 4, led by the efforts of seniors Marc Migliozzi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Mackenzie Andrews (Toowoomba, Australia).
The Zips placed fourth overall in the men's Gold Division with 132 points, while the women's squad finished fifth in the Gold Division with 183 points. Utah Valley and Cal State Fullerton claimed the men's and women's team Gold Division titles, respectively.
Migliozzi and junior Andre Bollam-Godbott (Brunswick, Ohio) battled down to the wire for top-team honors in the men's five-mile race, as the duo was separated by only 11 one-hundredths of a second, en route to registering times of 24:31.29 and 24:31.40 to finish seventh and eighth, respectively.
Seniors Nick Stricklen (Lexington, Ohio) and Jeremiah Fitzgerald (Mantua, Ohio) were next across the line for Akron in 25:00.06 (26th) and 25:18.53 (44th), while freshman Chase Easterling (Mt. Orab, Ohio) rounded out the Zips' scoring efforts with a time of 25:20.16 (47th).
Akron also garnered performances of 25:31.47 (64th), 25:48.35 (83rd) and 26:30.76 (120th), courtesy of redshirt junior Jacob Ondash (Hiram, Ohio), freshman Aidan Harr(New Philadelphia, Ohio) and junior Oliver Huffman (Augusta, Ga.).
Andrews continued her dominating run of performances in 2019 leading the Zips' women's squad across the finish line for the third consecutive race on the strength of a 5K time of 17:00.49 en route to placing third.
Junior Lindsey Scarton (Berea, Ohio) was next over the line for Akron registering a time of 17:31.15 to finish 18th.
Senior Haley Hess (Curtice, Ohio), freshman Olivia Anaple (Blue Ash, Ohio) and sophomore Lizzy Gurko (Northfield, Ohio) capped the Zips' scoring efforts recording times of 17:40.46, 18:16.01 and 18:16.74, respectively.
In her first race for Akron, senior Varvara Lissichkina (Karaganda, Kazahkstan) posted a time of 18:22.21, while senior Hannah Long (Pacific, Mo.) and redshirt junior Alyssa Thomas (Green, Ohio) rounded out the Zips' performances crossing the finish line in 18:45.43 and 19:22.10.
In the women's open 5K, junior Leah Recker (Findlay, Ohio) and freshman Morgan Jankowski (Brook Park, Ohio) traversed the line in 19:01.48 and 19:14.26.
In the men's open five-mile race, junior Shane Kelliher (Uniontown, Ohio) crossed the line in 29:28.28 (108th).
Akron will have one final tune-up before the Mid-American Conference Championships on Nov. 2 as the Zips travel to University Park, Pa., to compete at the Penn State National on Oct. 18.
Ball State // Louisville Cross Country Classic
Central Michigan // Joe Piane Cross Country Invitational
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Emily Shelton finished 31st on Friday to lead the Central Michigan women's cross country team at the Joe Piane-Notre Dame Invitational.
The Chippewas finished 16th in the 25-team field. Cal State Fullerton placed first.
"They ran a lot faster, they got out a lot better," said CMU director of track & field/cross country Jenny Swieton of her runners. "They were just more aggressive this time, which is really, really good. We still didn't finish where we want to as a team, but we're getting there. Progress is what we're looking for and we're definitely making it."
Shelton finished in 17:45.41. She was the fourth freshman to cross the finish line in the 193-runner field.
Also for the Chippewas, sophomore Lauren Beckmann (18:11.26) placed 61st, freshman Maddy Boyd (18:12.89) was 63rd, junior Morgan Merlino (18:39.12) placed 100th, junior Ana Garcia (18:49.19) was 116th, junior Carissa Gobbi (18:58.41) was 125th, junior Julianna Brown (19:02.15) was 131st, and sophomore Lexie Jorgens (19:02.74) was 135th.
Logan Morris of Clemson won the race in 16:49.48.
"A bunch of people had (personal records)," Swieton said. "I'm really happy we went. It was just an overall good day. They handled the circumstances of their race better, which I think was the most important thing for us today. Everything that we wanted to get out of it, we did."?
Miami // Joe Piane Cross Country Invitational
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Miami RedHawks cross country team made a splash Friday at Notre Dame's Joe Piane Invitational, with both the men's and women's teams putting together top-two finishes.
Both of the Miami teams ran in the Gold race, one of two flights on the day. The Miami women ran first, narrowly finishing second place, while the RedHawk men tied for first place with a tight spread of runners at the top of the standings.
The RedHawk women finished the day with 136 points, just five behind Cal State-Fullerton in first. It was competitive throughout, with Miami actually holding a slight lead at the 4K mark atop the standings. Emily Akin had perhaps her best run as a RedHawk as she lead the team with a time of 17:23.96, good for 13th-place overall.
Senior Carly Davis crossed the line next in 17:34.23, followed by the duo of Katie Vitou and Claire Linn who were less than half of a second apart. Maegan Murphy rounded out Miami's five scoring runners.
Over in the men's race, the 'Hawks finished with 86 points to tie with Utah Valley atop the standings. Charlie Harders was Miami's top runner, as he garnered a top-ten placing off the back of a 24:31.68 time.
As a showcase of the team's depth, Harders' run means that all four meets for Miami this year have featured four different RedHawks pacing the team as Alex Tam, Anthony Camerieri, and Obsaa Feda had previously done so.
Tam and Camerieri were part of the next group of RedHawks to cross the line, along with David Coffey and Ryan Sharkey. Only four places separated those four runners as they all finished between 17th and 21st; the spread for the group was under three seconds. Just outside of the scoring top five, Mitchell Towne also had a strong race and was not far behind with a 24th-place finish.
"Today was a great day for the RedHawks. We've been talking a lot this year about how deep we are on both the men's and women's side and we showed up today and ran really well," said head coach Tom Chorny after the meet.
"With the way we've been training this year, this is only our second real race of the year and the way we ran today represents what kind of team we are. We will only get stronger from here as we move into the race prep portion of the season, then once we start to get fresh we are going to see some very special things from these athletes."
Miami also had runners in the open division of the meet, with Morgan Pohl (18:51.21) leading the women's group and Seth Conroy (25:21.17) leading the men's.
Miami was the class of the Mid-American Conference contingent at Notre Dame, as Akron (5th), Central Michigan (16th) and Western Michigan (18th) were also among the 25 teams in the women's Gold race. Akron finished fourth in the men's race.
The RedHawks will see those schools and the rest of the MAC again at the conference championships on November 2 at Northern Illinois. Before then, however, the RedHawks will next be at action at Ball State on October 18 and at Pre-Nationals on October 19.
Western Michigan // Joe Piane Cross Country Invitational
SOUTH BEND, Ind., -- The Western Michigan cross country team wrapped up the Joe Piane-Notre Dame Invitational at UND's Burke Golf Course on Friday.
Senior Brittney Hall led the charge in the Gold Division 5k race, finishing 24th with a time of 17:37.23. Fellow senior Juliane Sormain finished with a time of 18:17.40 in her first race of the season after recovering from injury, finishing 73rd. Rounding out WMU's top five in the Gold Division race was sophomore Paisley Sipes at 18:35.76, Courtney Allen at 18:38.68, and freshman Ashley Ships at 18:49.94.
"We ran a very solid race today," said head coach Makiba Batten. "The focus was on running intelligently. We had about six girls under 19 minutes and 75 percent of them hit personal bests. Paisley, Courtney and Ashley stood out in the group. Based on training the past few weeks we expected this trio to make gains today. The girls are buying in and producing faster times. Now we are looking forward to Pre-Nationals and setting up for the MAC Championship."
WMU also had runners competing in the open race with Oliva VandePol turning in the top time of 19:44.87.
The Broncos have another week off before heading down to Terre Haute, Ind., for the Under Armour Pre-Nationals on Saturday, Oct. 19.
