On Sept. 7, the Bison women’s and men’s cross country teams traveled to Hamilton, N.Y. to compete in the Harry Lang Invite. Despite both the men’s and women’s teams withholding certain runners from competing in order to preserve peak performances, the teams nonetheless displayed strong showings.

On the women’s side, several Bison placed in the top 20, including Emily Deschler ’22, who captured the top spot among the Orange and Blue. Clocking in with a time of 17:39.7, she placed sixth out of a field of 90 runners. This performance followed up an eighth-place finish just one week ago at Pitt.

Following Deschler was Olivia Dyer ’22, coming in 13th, and Hope Beyer ’20, coming in 16th. Rounding out the Bison runners among the top 50 were Nora Bennett ’22, Mia Bellucci ’23, Camille Lussier ’23, Kate Amaddio ’23, Jamie Falla ’22, Sarah Bain ’21 and Emma Dolen ’20.

“We have a young, talented group of ladies who are excited to make their mark in the league, and yesterday’s race made that excitement evident,” Lauren Gronbeck ’20 said.

Gronbeck, a standout who did not race this week, felt the team handled the hills on the course very well and ultimately turned in a solid performance.

“We have a lot of work to do in the next eight weeks before [the Patriot League Championship Meet], but we’re ready to tackle any challenges in our quest for five league titles in a row,” Gronbeck said. 

On the men’s side, Samuel Whittaker ’23 placed 12th overall at the invitational, the top finish among the Bison, with a time of 20:37.60 in a field of 84. In addition, Brendan O’Toole ’22 finished in 15th place while Evan Minor ’21 finished right behind in 16th place.

Following Whittaker’s lead, other freshmen collected strong times in the race. Greg Eisenhower ’23 clocked in to collect 20th place, while Dom Campagna ’23 and Noah Martin ’23 also had great finishes. Rounding out the top 50 runners were Brian Dengler ’20, James Weissenborn ’20, Ryan Miele ’22, Terryl Ferrell ’20, Thomas Matsumura ’22 and Matthew Vira ’20.

The Orange and Blue will look to carry their momentum at Lock Haven on Sept. 21 after a two-week break in action.