STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The American University cross country team ran strong races over longer distances at Penn State on Friday (Sep. 12). Similar to their opener at Richmond (Aug. 30), the freshmen led the Eagles on the women's side while the seniors led on the men's side.
In her first ever 6k, freshman
Shealyn Brochu again led the women's squad, placing 15th in a competitive race in a time of 21:23.2. Freshman
Lydia Drago, also racing her first 6k, ran 22:21.9 for 43rd. Sophomores
Zoe Rector (57th) and
Kara Langbaum (73rd) followed, running PRs of 22:47.1 and 23:15.1, respectively. Junior
Estella Miller rounded out the scoring, placing 87th in 23:35.3.
The men's squad was led by a close group of seniors in the 5.2-mile race, just longer than their usual race distance of 8k.
Cooper Michaud (30th) led the group in 25:49.4, followed closely by
Carver Morgan (31st) in 25:49.7 and
Kaden Kluth (33rd) in 25:53.6. Sophomores
Noah Smith (48th) and
Zack Zerbe (55th) again rounded out the scoring five for the Eagles, running 26:19.0 and 26:25.9, respectively.
COACHES' CORNER
"Today was a solid day that left us optimistic about a group that is eager to continue to improve and already sees their own massive upside," said assistant coach
Zach Prescott on the women's performances. "The biggest highlight of the day was
Shealyn Brochu's 6k debut, running 21:23, the fastest 6k by an American uniform since 2017 on a course that is not known to be particularly fast. The rest of our freshman group debuted strongly as well, setting marks that will give them something to build off of for the next four years.
"Zoe, Kara, and Estella all put together solid races to score for the team in the third through fifth slots. We have three weeks to get back to work and set ourselves up for the important races later in the season. We walk away from this course over a minute faster on average for our top five spots and yet still not satisfied with our performance, a great place to build from."
"Today was a good step forward for the men," said head coach
Sean Graham on the men's performances. "Overall it was a good day, but not yet great. We competed very well up front for the first three-quarters of the race. Kaden and Carver led or were in the front grouping through 4.5 miles. Unfortunately we struggled a little the last 1,200 meters with those two.
"Cooper, Noah, and Jaden worked well together, much better than last time out, and had very strong races. Cooper moved forward excellently up to Kaden and Carver to be our top finisher and Noah held well in the 40s. Freshman
Emmett Engelhardt had a very good debut in the AU jersey at a much longer distance than he's been used to.
"It wasn't our best day but a good day, early on in the season on a challenging course. I'm excited to get back to work with these guys over the next three weeks of training and not competing to really sharpen some of our areas that need work. This is an impressive group of young men that is inching ever so closer to really being great. Back to work!"
View the full results
here.
Next Up
The Eagles will return to Pennsylvania in three weeks to race the Paul Short Run at Lehigh on Oct. 3.
Follow the Eagles
Instagram |
Twitter |
AUEagles
WOMEN'S RESULTS (8/10)
15.
Shealyn Brochu, 21:23.2
43.
Lydia Drago, 22:21.9
57.
Zoe Rector, 22:47.1 (PR)
73.
Kara Langbaum, 23:15.1 (PR)
87.
Estella Miller, 23:35.3
94.
Grace Kirk, 23:55.0 (PR)
95.
Georgina Chalow, 24:02.1
97.
Kate Riley, 24:09.0
98.
Charlotte Orr, 24:09.9
102.
Scarlett Lestina, 24:26.3 (PR)
103.
Catherine Hany, 24:32.9 (PR)
107.
Skyler Tatum, 25:10.6
108.
Hannah Schwab, 25:18.2
110.
Fiona Murphy, 25:24.9
11.
Hannah Puckett, 28:46.7
MEN'S RESULTS (5/9)
30.
Cooper Michaud, 25:49.4
31.
Carver Morgan, 25:49.7
33.
Kaden Kluth, 25:53.6
48.
Noah Smith, 26:19.0
55.
Zack Zerbe, 26:25.9
62.
Emmett Engelhardt, 26:40.4
90.
Barak Goldstein, 27:30.9
91.
Jaden Frederick, 27:31.2
100.
David Manfredi, 28:23.8
105.
Jack Chandler, 30:00.4
107.
Daden Grogan, 30:59.0
