Wheeling, W. Va. - After a week off from racing, the Wheeling University Men's and Women's Cross Country teams return to action this weekend. They will face all three levels of the NCAA and NAIA competition when they compete in the Silver Race with the men running at 12 PM and the women running at 12:45 pm. After some strong starts to the season in the first race of the year, they are looking to build off that as they continue to train for the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship.
In the first race of the year, the two teams traveled to the Kutztown D2/D3 Classic as they once again competed against a variety of competition levels. The men started off the evening in the first afternoon race of the season and had several strong performances. They had one player crack the event's top 30 and had two runners in the top 70 of the event as they competed against several ranked opponents. On the women's side, Head Coach Patrick Stanton called it a big step forward for the program to start the year. The team's top three runners each cracked the top 25 and as they began their seasons with a bang.
Leading the way for the women was senior Savanaugh Anderson, who finished 16th overall with a time of 24:20.3 and an average mile of 6:31.7. Anderson picked up right where she left off at the 2021 MEC Championships and will continue to be a leader for the team this year. Caroline Fodor and Sydney Hambel were up next, finishing in 21st and 23rd overall. Fodor ran what Stanton called "her best Cross Country race ever", finishing at 24:39.5, and Hambel had a strong collegiate debut for the Cardinals, running a 24:41.6. For the women, it was their first chance to tackle a 6K this season as they have a lot to build off moving forward.
On the men's side, Stanton said the guys showed their youth at times as they look to improve as the season goes on. Leading the pack was sophomore Izaiha Browning, who finished 30th overall and set a new PR 28:01.2. He averaged a 5:38.2 mile, but still has room to grow as the season moves forward. The only runner on the guys side to beat their expected run time was freshman Hunter Tomich, who came out strong for the Cardinals. He ran a 29:06.4 and was able to crack the race's top 70, finishing 65th overall in the field.
While it was a big start to the season for both teams, Stanton says there is still a lot more training in front of them. Wheeling has three more races ahead of them leading up to the 2022 MEC Championships and each race is a chance for them to improve their times. This week, they will get to see a wide variety of competition across all three levels of the NCAA and the NAIA, but they will look to keep focusing on their training, geting their mileage up and bringing their times down.
Race Details
The Live the Lou Cross Country Classic will be ran in Louisville, Kentucky at the University of Louisville. The men will be running an 8K course consisting of rolling terrain with three hills that will challenge the runners on the course. The women will follow with their 6K race, which will follow roughly the same course as the men with rolling terrain. The runners will be challenged throughout the course, but will look to use the downhills to their advantage.
The last time that Wheeling ran in the Live the Lou Cross Country Classic was during the 2019 season when they finished eighth out of the 12 teams they competed against. On the women's side, Lindsey Sheffel led the way, finishing 4th with a time of 19:32.36, while former Cardinal Devin Rich led the men at 26:54.22.
The Details
The Men's Cross Country team will kick off the racing, beginning at 12 PM followed by the women at 12:45 pm. You can watch the race live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
