Cross Country hobbles through Lock Haven

Fighting injuries and inconsistency, the Pitt men’s and women’s cross country teams still… Fighting injuries and inconsistency, the Pitt men’s and women’s cross country teams still managed to fare well in Saturday’s Lock Haven Invitational.

The men’s squad finished second in the eight-team field while the women settled for fourth place. The finish is a slight decline for the women, who finished first at the Duquesne Duals two weekends ago. The men placed second in that event, also.

Freshman Joshua Christopher continued to impress, scoring his second straight fourth-place finish. He did so two weeks ago, as well.

Amy Ruffalo, a senior who used to run for Duquesne before transferring, topped the women’s side with a time of 21:40. That was good for a sixth-place individual finish.

The Kent State men’s team placed first, right ahead of Pitt. The Golden Flashes women’s side finished second behind West Virginia, who paced the event.

Although each team placed in the top half of its respective sides of the tournament, head coach Alonzo Webb expected a little more from his runners.

“The men’s side didn’t go as well as we wanted to,” Webb said. “It hurts losing a No. 1 guy.”

Senior Sam Bair has been nursing a hernia injury, while fellow senior Eric Fleming was bothered by an Achilles problem that severely affected his time. Fleming ended up near the bottom as a result of fighting through the pain.

“That’s the biggest thing, getting healthy. Especially Eric with his Achilles,” Webb said.

Christopher set the pace for the men’s squad with Kyle Kaminski and Eric Burnett finishing second and third for the Panthers, respectively, scoring 10th and 11th overall in the race. They registered times of 32:47 and 32:50, respectively. Another freshman, Teddy Miller, completed the event in 20th with a time of 33:17.

The women didn’t finish as high as the men did in the overall standings, yet Webb seemed more satisfied with their performance.

“We finished in fourth, but we were not that far out of second,” Webb explained. “Our numbers four and five didn’t run as well.”

Following the impressive effort from Ruffalo, freshman Anna Yoney placed 11th overall and second on the Panthers with a time of 22:03. Alexandra Briggs was right behind her with a time of 22:16. That was good enough for 13th.

There was a significant drop-off after those times however, with no other woman runner finishing higher than 27th, ultimately restricting Pitt to fourth overall.

The two squads’ next race will be at the Paul Short Invitational on Sept. 28 at Bethlehem, Pa.

“It will be a test for us, we will have to run well there,” Webb said. “It’s a little bit hillier there, and we are used to that.”