Cross country competes at Iona Meet of Champions

NEW YORK- Junior Maureen McCandless led the Pitt women’s cross country team to a third-place… NEW YORK- Junior Maureen McCandless led the Pitt women’s cross country team to a third-place finish as she placed 10th at the Iona Meet of Champions last Saturday.

On a windy autumn morning, while the sun fought the clouds over the city skyline of New York, the Panthers battled hills and occasional rain.

The women’s team placed third out of 18 teams while the men landed finished 16th out of 19 at Van Cortland Park on Saturday.

The women’s 6-kilometer race began with a pop from the starting gun followed by the sustained ringing of a cowbell.

The course wound like a giant fishhook for the first mile, with McCandless among the top five runners. By the second mile, she dropped back to eighth, before finishing 11th overall.

Coach Waddie Freeman’s outlook on the race steadily decreased as he watched the race from several points along the course.

“We’re not in good position, right now,” Freeman said at the 2-K mark. At the 5-K mark, he said, “We’re not doing well at all, right now.”

Checking the times of the runners, he added, “These times are slow for our girls – very slow. We’ve got to get over it real quick. We’ve got a race next week.”

McCandless suffered a knee injury during the race, caused by a fast start that agitated her tendonitis. She also said the Bronx trail hampered her running with too many hills.

“I really like the flat courses,” McCandless said, but added that, later in the season, she will be better prepared for such a race.

“It will be a whole different story when we come back [to Van Cortland] for the Big East [Championships],” McCandless said.

Lauren Shaffer, who finished 21st, also iced her legs following the race but said she only suffered from a nagging injury that tightened after the race concluded.

Shaffer didn’t share McCandless’ specific preference for flat courses.

“I don’t mind [hills],” Shaffer said. “I think hills are just a mental thing.”

The women’s team scored 181 points, placing behind Princeton and Yale but ahead of nationally ranked Auburn, which placed sixth.

Pitt’s women’s team is currently ranked 31st in the nation, marking the first time the team has ever received votes in a national poll.

McCandless, Shaffer; Rachel Rothe, Suzette Bossart and Abby Zaylor comprised Pitt’s top five runners at 39th, 45th and 65th place, respectively.

The men’s team, loaded with freshmen, struggled in its first 8-kilometer race of the season.

As opposed to the Duquesne Duals Invitational, which ended with four freshmen out of the Panthers’ top five, the Iona Meet of Champions ended with only three Pitt freshmen in its top five.

Senior Mike Diano led Pitt, finishing 70th. Tom Brennan of LaSalle edged out Diano by less than a second to knock him out of the top 60.

Sophomore Nick Westerman followed Diano, finishing 79th. And behind Westerman, a trio of freshmen placed for Pitt: Eric Fleming at 83rd, Michael Long at 95th and Stephen Gonzalez at 102nd.

“With freshmen, you never know what you’re going to get,” Freeman said. “Our men’s team is very young, being led by a lot of freshmen.

“If [a team] knows the course very well, they can dominate.”

Iona College won the men’s invitational.

The 600-meter long, triple-jointed Cemetery Hill also complicated the men’s course and altered the color of the race.

“[Cemetery Hill] is mind-changing,” Fleming said. “[Van Cortland] was totally new to me.”

The men’s team defeated St. Lawrence, New Haven, and New Hampshire.

Pitt’s cross-country teams travel to Bethlehem, Pa., for the Paul Short Invitational on Oct. 4.