Thomas Walter
Senior Writer
Men’s XC face tough top 25 competition
The men’s cross country team ran two meets this past weekend, travelling to Boston for the Boston College Coast to Coast on Sept. 27 and facing Bloomsburg on Sept. 28. Racing against some of the top teams in the country, the men’s cross country team finished ninth in the Coast to Coast before defeating Bloomsburg the next day.
Michael McGowan ’15 won the Patriot League Male Runner of the Week, which marks his second award in the last three weeks.
“I have been working real hard in practice. Everyday has a goal whether it is run easy, hard, or recover, and I try to do my best to follow my routine,” McGowan said.
The Bison raced against four of the top 25 teams in the country in the Coast to Coast Battle. No. 12 Oregon won the race and No. 9 Syracuse finished in second. McGowan turned in the best effort for the Bison, finishing 38th out of 140 total competitors. Despite the extreme competition, McGowan insisted the team was not intimidated by the competition.
“The biggest difference is the amount of depth and the fact that these teams can give scholarships. The recruits they bring in are top notch or from overseas. But none of our guys were intimidated,” McGowan said. “The team was very pumped to run against those teams. It isn’t often you get a chance to run in a field that talented.”
Injuries left the team incredibly shorthanded this past weekend.
“We actually didn’t even run some of our top guys because of injury. We actually had a very bad meet at Boston,” McGowan said. “Everyone was tired from a very hard week of training the week before, and no one was fully recovered.
The rest of the Bison squad ran well to defeat Bloomsburg. The Orange and the Blue turned in the three fastest times during the event. Dylan Cowell ’15 took first place in 27:45, with Luke Giugliano ’17 and Jonathan Tewodros ’17 finishing seconds later in 27:48.5 and 28:02.6, respectively.
The men’s cross country team returns to action tomorrow at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa.