Lock Haven, PA. - Some of the top teams in the Atlantic Region converged on Lock Haven, Pennsylvania for the Lock Haven Invitational. It was the first look at the course for the 2025 NCAA DII Atlantic Region Cross Country Championship course, and the Cardinals would finish 14th overall in the event. They picked up their second top 10 finish of the season, while four of the five Cardinal runners set their new 8K PRs on the day.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Magnus Polkner, who set a new PR on his way to picking up his second top 10 finish of the season with a time of 26:50.7. It would be a comeback race for Polkner, who sit 13th overall after 3.5K with a time of 11:42.1. However, as the race went on, Polkner was able to slowly climb the individual standings, getting up to 10th by the 4.7K mark with a time of 16:16.3. He remained in that 10th place spot with 1.4K to go and would finish the final sprint in 4:15.7, climbing three more places in the field. In the end, he would finish 7th overall with the PR mark of 26:50.7, shaving just over 21 seconds off his previous PR mark. It was his second top 10 finish in two races for the Cardinals as he finished as the top runner in the MEC and looks to continue being a top contender in the conference.
Finishing behind him was graduate student Hunter Tomich, who placed 54th in the field with a time of 28:23.8. His best stretch of the race came between the 2.2K mark and the 3.5K mark, where he jumped five spots in the individual standings and ran the stretch in 4:54.6. While it was not a PR effort for Tomich, he was able to shave just over 30 seconds off his time from the Bethany Invitational as he gears up for the MEC Championships. The final Cardinal to crack the top 100 of the race was Courtney Rider, who finished 98th overall with a time of 29:58.1. He was able to set his new PR by just over 45 seconds. It was a fast start that got him going, running a time of 1:58.9 between the 1.6K and 2.2K mark, as he continues to grow on the cross country coach.
The other two PR efforts came from Tyler Crook and Aidan McKenna, who finished 109th and 138th respectively. Crook led the two runners with his 109th place finish, and was neck and neck with the top 100 through the first 3.5K. He sat just one second behind Rider at the 3.5K mark, but would finish the final stretch in 5:04.5 to just miss the mark. However, he shaved a little over two minutes off his previous 8K PR as he rounded out a strong performance. Aidan McKenna would round out the race, finishing 138th overall with a time of 32:44.6 in the field. It was the biggest PR set by the Cardinals on the day, as McKenna was able to shave over three minutes off his previous 8K PR.
The Wheeling University Men's Cross Country team returns to action on Saturday, October 11th, when they run at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational beginning at 10 AM.
