The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Penn State National
Akron Cross Country Garners Strong Individual Performances in Final Tune-Up for MAC Championships
October 14 | Cross Country
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MEN'S OVERALL RESULTS | WOMEN'S RESULTS
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Strong individual performances and personal-best marks highlighted the performances of the University of Akron men's and women's cross country teams at the Penn State National on Friday, Oct. 14.
Sophomore Joe Rossetti (Stow, Ohio) paced the efforts for the Zips' men's squad crossing the line in 25:58, good for a team-best 50th-place finish. Redshirt freshman Mackenzie Andrews (Toowoomba, Australia) directed Akron's women's team posting a time of 22:05 (112th place).
Collectively, the Zips' men's and women's teams garnered overall finishes of 13th and 19th, respectively.
"We competed well and ran strong as a group today," said Akron head men's cross country coach Lee LaBadie. "We finished with a 40-second spread among our top five runners and beat Buffalo and Kent State. This was a good meet before the MAC Championships as we faced really good teams, including eight top-ranked teams from around the country."
Akron raced well together in the race as the team's spread amongst its top five finishers were spread out by one 40 seconds, the sixth-best difference among the 16-team field.
Junior Garrett Crichlow (Twinsburg, Ohio) followed closely behind Rossetti crossing the line in 26:04 (59th place). Rounding out the Zips' top five was senior Dan Zupan (Berea, Ohio), freshman Samuel Blechman (Bradford Woods, Ohio) and redshirt freshman Nick Campbell (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) with efforts of 26:13 (69th), 26:34 (92nd) and 26:38 (97th), respectively.
Akron also garnered times of 26:58 (113th), 27:01 (115th) and 27:21 (128th) from redshirt freshman Tevin Brown (Toledo, Ohio), junior Eric McCabe (Hilliard, Ohio) and freshman Nick Stricklen (Lexington, Ohio).
"Today was a step forward," Zips' women's head cross country coach David Gramlich commented. "That was our fastest average time in a couple years. I certainly want us to be higher up in a highly-competitive field like this, however we had six personal bests and we are going to be even better for our championship segment starting at MAC on Oct 29th."
Comprising the balance of Akron's top five performers was redshirt sophomore Elizabeth Mosier (Austintown, Ohio), freshmen Hannah Pineault (Morgantown, W. Va.) and Haley Hess (Curtice, Ohio) and sophomore Morgan Buckley (Warren, Ohio) with times of 22:25 (150th), 22:54 (178th), 23:00 (187th) and 23:03 (190th), respectively.
Akron also benefited from the efforts of 23:14 (197th), 23:42 (208th), 23:45 (211th), 23:45 (212th) and 24:19 (220th), from senior Natalie Zidd (Hinckley, Ohio), redshirt juniors Sarah Kupniewski (Erie, Pa.) and Alexandra Blair (Akron, Ohio), sophomore Tarike Osuobeni (Columbus, Ohio) and freshman Cassidi Lovell (Fremont, Ohio).
Akron returns to competition on Oct. 29 as the Zips travel to Kent, Ohio, to battle for the Mid-American Conference Championships.
Players Mentioned
