Akron Travels to Penn State National in Final MAC Tune-Up

Friday, October 12

College Park, Pa.

University of Akron

Penn State National

Nick Stricklen - Alyssa Thomas - 10/11/18

Akron Travels to Penn State National in Final MAC Tune-Up

October 11 | Cross Country

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AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron men's and women's cross country squads get their final tune-ups for the upcoming Mid-American Conference Championships returning to competition on Friday, Oct. 12, as the Zips travel to University Park, Pa., to run at the Penn State National.

The women's 6K is scheduled to go off at 10:45 a.m. ET, while the men's 5.2 Mile race is slated for an 11:30 a.m. ET start. The meet is held at the Penn State Blue-White Course.

Thirty schools will be competing in the men's and women's fields, including; Akron (M/W), Arkansas (M), Boston College (W), Brown (M/W), Bucknell (M/W), Charleston Southern (M), Cornell (W), Dartmouth (M/W), Duquesne (M/W), Eastern Kentucky (M/W), Georgetown (M/W), Georgia Tech (M/W), Iona (M/W), James Madison (W), Kentucky (M/W), Lehigh (W), Loyola (W), Michigan State (M/W), Missouri (M/W), North Carolina (M/W), Ohio (M/W), Penn (M/W), Penn State (M/W), Pittsburgh (M/W), Princeton (W), Rutgers (M/W), Utah (W), Virginia (M/W), Virginia Tech (M/W) and West Virginia (W).

"We are very excited for the competition this Friday at Penn State," Akron head women's cross country coach Trey Brokaw commented. "Our team ran well at this meet last year and we should be primed for another good performance this weekend. This invitational is extremely competitive and a multitude of nationally-ranked cross country programs will be present."

A year ago, redshirt juniors Mackenzie Andrews (Toowoomba, Australia) and Tevin Brown (Toledo, Ohio) led the efforts of the Zips' women's and men's cross country squads at the Penn State National on Oct. 13, 2017.

Collectively, the Zips' men's and women's teams garnered overall finishes of sixth and 13th, respectively.

Crossing the line first for the Zips was Andrews, who registered a team-best time of 21:26 in the women's 6K to place 47th. Earning the top finish for Akron in the men's 5.2-mile race was Brown, who turned in a time of 26:04, to place 24th.

The Zips posted a 17-second spread among its top-five performers and had seven of their nine runners turn in career-best times. Juniors Nick Stricklen (Lexington, Ohio) and Marc Migliozzi (Pittsburgh, Pa.), redshirt junior Jeremiah Fitzgerald (Mantua, Ohio), along with sophomore Andre Bollam-Godbott (Brunswick, Ohio) contributed points to Akron's efforts recording finishes of 26:08 (28th), 26:15 (32nd), 22:16 (33rd) and 26:21 (37th), respectively.

Rounding out the Zips' efforts was Garrett Crichlow and Samuel Blechman, who turned in times of 26:36 (53rd) and 26:51 (63rd).

Following closely behind Andrews across the line for the Zips was Elizabeth Mosier, who ran the course in 21:44, to finish 64th.

Completing Akron's scoring contingent was junior Haley Hess (Curtice, Ohio), Vanessa Rivera and Hannah Pineault, who crossed the line in 21:56 (71st), 22:30 (92nd) and 22:35 (97th), respectively.

The Zips also received times of 22:43 (102nd) and 22:45 (103rd) from redshirt sophomore Alyssa Thomas (Green, Ohio) and sophomore Lindsey Scarton (Berea, Ohio). As a team, every Akron runner posted a season- and career-best time in the 6K.

In the Zips' last competition, Bollam-Godbott and Andrews led the efforts of the Zips' cross country squads at the All-Ohio Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships on Sept. 29 hosted at the Silver Creek Metro Park in Norton, Ohio, registering team-best second- and fourth-place finishes, respectively.

Akron earned the men's overall title for the third time (2013, 2014, 2018) in program history with 90 points besting fellow MAC foe Ohio by three points. In the Division I field, the Bobcats bettered the Zips by one point to claim the Division I crown.

In the women's overall field, Akron placed fourth overall with 116 points, while finishing third in Division I with 77 points.

Bollam-Godbott crossed the line first for the Zips and second overall in the men's race on the strength of a career-best 8K time of 24:20.5.

Sparked by strong finishing kicks, Stricklen and Brown recorded times of 24:34.6 and 24:35.0 to earn 10th- and 11th-place finishes. Brown's performance came in his first race of the season.

Rounding out Akron's scoring efforts with times of 25:06.0 (28th) and 25:17.4 (39th), respectively, was Migliozzi and freshman Jake Wickert (Medina, Ohio). Additionally, redshirt sophomore Jacob Ondash (Hiram, Ohio) and redshirt freshman Taylor Hopkins (Heath, Ohio) crossed the line in 25:38.5 (64th) and 25:59.2 (87th).

Andrews was Akron's top women's finisher for the third consecutive race and was followed across the line in the 6K field by senior Ashley Murray (Seville, Ohio), who registered a time of 22:08.2 to place 18th.

Hess garnered a top-20 performance of her own crossing the line in 22:18.0 to finish 20th overall.

Scarton and Thomas capped the Zips' scoring performances posting times of 22:32.8 and 22:51.9, respectively.

Additionally, freshmen Sydney Niekamp (Napoleon, Ohio) and Lizzy Gurko (Northfield, Ohio), sophomore Whitney Wendling (Lexington, Ohio) and senior Tarike Osuobeni (Columbus, Ohio) rounded out the efforts of the Zips on the afternoon.

Akron concludes its regular season campaign traveling to Toledo, Ohio, for the MAC Championships on Oct. 27.