(Hardeeville, S.C.) The Loyola University New Orleans cross country teams buried school records at the Sand Shark Invitational on Saturday morning in Hardeeville, S.C. The women’s team took 7th place at the meet while the men finished in 14th.
Annie Hills (19th) led the women’s squad as she set the school record for fastest 5K time with a mark of 19:14.87. That mark topped the previous school record of 19:16 which Hills set last year at the same meet. She had company in the top 30 as Francesca Vaccaro (25th) and Kennedi Henneberger (27th) posted times of 19:24.60 and 19:27.84 which are the 3rd and 4th fastest times for a Wolf Pack runner. Denise Powell placed 37th with a time of 19:45.11 which tied for the ninth best time in the Loyola annals. Elizabeth Gienger rounded out the scoring as she placed 60th out of 204 runners.
The women’s team took 7th place just nine points behind conference rival Emmanuel College. However, they were able to finish in front of SSAC foes Brenau, Southern Wesleyan, Auburn Montgomery, and Truett-McConnell.
“We ran really well today, I am very proud of the ladies effort. They reached the goal of running a sub 20 minute team average by running 19:38 average time and ran close to a 60 second gap time as the top five runners finished 64 seconds apart. We set ourselves up very well for the conference meet,” said head coach Andy Canegitta.
Not to be outdone, Paul Freese ran the 7th fastest 8K time in school history when he crossed the finish line at 26:53.03. Freese finished in 58th place while pacing the men’s squad. He was followed by Jonathan Malbrue (84th), Henry Gerbract (96th), and Toren Arnold (98th) who all finished in the top 100. Alexander Morano rounded out the scoring for the men’s squad.
“The men ran well once again, even though we were missing some runners. The guys that ran put in a great effort and defeated Southern Wesleyan, something they had never done before,” said coach Canegitta.
The Wolf Pack will now have 14 days to prepare for the SSAC Championship meet held at Choctaw Trails in Clinton, Mississippi. Loyola will be going for the conference crown starting at 8 a.m. on November 9th.
Women
7. 168 Loyola-New Orleans (19:38.17 98:10.88 1:03.59)
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1 19 Annie Hills F SR 19:14.87
2 25 Francesca Vaccaro F SO 19:24.60
3 27 Kennedi Henneberger F FR 19:27.84
4 37 Denise Powell F JR 19:45.11
5 60 Elizabeth Gienger F SR 20:18.46
6 ( 87) Jessica Williams F JR 21:16.23
7 ( 96) Emma Larson F JR 21:30.83
8 124 Raquel Derganz Baker F JR 21:56.86
9 163 Ashleigh Sparks F SO 23:06.48
Men
14. 455 Loyola-New Orleans (27:47.86 138:59.34 1:54.93)
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1 58 Paul Freese M JR 26:53.03
2 84 Jonathan Malbrue M SO 27:32.66
3 96 Henry Gerbracht M JR 27:47.73
4 98 Toren Arnold M FR 27:57.96
5 119 Alexander Morano M FR 28:47.96