USTFCCCA News & Notes
MEET RECAP: Paul Short Run
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The 2016 Paul Short Run had a chance to impress and did just that.
Under overcast skies in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Men’s Gold Race and Women’s Gold Race went off without a hitch.
Team titles went to Iona’s men and Yale’s women, while Georgetown’s Scott Carpenter and Villanova’s Angel Piccirillo earned the first XC wins of their collegiate careers.
Iona’s Men Dominate; G’Town’s Carpenter FTW
Saturday offered the first true look at Georgetown and Iona.
Cross country fans would also see how well Adams State, one of the best teams in NCAA Division II, could hang with those NCAA Division I powerhouses.
When the dust settled at Lehigh University, nobody could keep up with the 16th-ranked Gaels.
Using a 2-3 finish by Kieran Clements and Gilbert Kirui, Iona crushed the competition. The Gaels scored a total of 34 points, as their next three runners crossed the finish line in seventh (Andrew Tario), 10th (Johannes Motschmann) and 12th (Liam Dee).
No. 8 Georgetown struggled to a runner-up finish with 115 points and couldn’t find a way to capitalize on Scott Carpenter‘s individual win. Carpenter broke the tape in 23:37, one second ahead of Clements (23:38) and three seconds in front of Kirui (23:40). That was the first collegiate XC win of Carpenter’s career.
Finishing behind Carpenter, Clements and Kirui was Adams State’s Sydney Gidabuday. The Grizzlies’ super sophomore crossed the finish line four seconds behind Carpenter and led ASU to a third-place team finish (142).
The Hoyas’ day didn’t go as planned because only Carpenter finished in the top-15. Christian Alvarado took 20th, Michael Lederhouse was 26th, Amos Bartelsmeyer was 27th and Jonathan Green, who finished fifth at NCAAs last year, rounded out Georgetown’s scoring lineup in 41st.
No. 26 Penn took fourth in the team standings and was followed by No. 25 Columbia.
Here is a list of individual finishers in the top-10: Carpenter, Clements, Kirui, Gidabuday, Utah State’s Dillon Maggard, Columbia’s Jack Boyle, Tario, Georgia’s Bryan Kamau, Penn’s Nicolas Tuck and Iona’s Motschmann.
Yale’s Women Surprise; Villanova’s Piccirillo Rolls
By the final 1K, it was clear that Villanova’s Angel Piccirillo was going to win the first XC race of her collegiate career.
Those in attendance didn’t know what team would win the trophy.
Ultimately it wasn’t No. 19 Georgetown or No. 22 Penn. Instead, the 29th-ranked Yale Bulldogs pulled off an upset.
Yale scored 92 points (5-8-13-31-35) to edge the Hoyas (119). The Quakers and unranked West Virginia tied for third.
The Bulldogs were led by Emily Waligurski in 5th place and Frances Schmiede in 8th. Kelli Reagan added vaulable depth with a 13th-place finish to leave Yale at 26 points through three runners.
Schmiede and Waligurski were one of three sets of teammates to finish in the top-10. The others were Villanova’s Piccirillo and Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (6th) as well as Florida’s Taylor Tubbs (7th) and Jessica Pascoe (9th).
One of the biggest storylines in the race for the third-place Mountaineers was the continued climb of Jillian Forsey. After missing the 2015 XC season due to injury, Forsey is back and better than ever. Forsey won the Texas Tech Open earlier this season and finished fourth on Saturday.