METAIRIE, La. – The Loyola men’s and women’s cross country teams pleased the home crowd and their coach on Saturday, as both teams took first place at the Four Points by Sheraton Wolfpack Invitational.
For the women, this marks the third consecutive year they’ve taken the top spot at their home event. The team scored 46 points, 17 points ahead of runner-up Xavier, with an average time of 20:23. The Wolfpack finished with seven runners in the top-25.
Sophomore and co-captain Vanessa Righeimer was the top collegiate runner for the women, coming in at fifth overall with a time of 19:56.02. Running in her first collegiate meet, freshman Christina Paparo ran a 20:15.17 and finished in seventh place. Rounding out the top-25, freshman Denise Powell took 10th overall (20:32.97), junior Hannah Dougherty in 11th (20:34.32), freshman Jessica Williams in 13th (20:40.95), junior Jenna Knoblach in 14th (20:41.91), and sophomore Elizabeth Gienger in 24th (21:19.83).
“The women did well. They weren’t 100% as some of them were nicked up with injuries. We were good, but not great. We still have work to get them at the level I want them to be,” stated head coach Andy Canegitta.
For the men, they finally achieved the goal they’ve been inching towards since Canegitta’s debut as head coach with the Wolfpack. The team scored 46 points, seven ahead of runner-up Mississippi College, with an average time of 16:40.49.
Every male runner that competed last week in the Choctaw Season Opener improved their 5K time today, as the men had seven runners in the top-25. Freshman Dylan DiMartino clinched the top spot for the men, finishing third overall. His time of 16:21.52 was one minute and 23 seconds faster than a week ago.
Freshman Michael Corso, who took the top spot for the men at Choctaw, finished in sixth place with a time of 16:28.12. Following close behind him, making his Wolfpack debut, freshman Paul Freese took seventh overall with a time of 16:30.85. Topping off the top-25 list is freshman Henry Gerbracht in 11th (16:40.31), Alex McDonald in 19th (17:21.61), sophomore Abraham Thacker in 21st (17:30.05), and junior Galen Westerfield in 24th (17:51.07).
“They stepped up big time to pull off the sweep for us. It was the first time they won the Wolfpack Invitational since I’ve been here, and the first time we’ve beaten Xavier,” continued Canegitta.
The Wolfpack ran with 13 women and 12 men today, in which seven men’s and nine women’s teams competed, including the women’s Loyola alumni team. Also today, senior Mary Clara Hutchison and sophomore Elizabeth Gienger set new career bests in the 5K with 21:40.37 and 21:19.83 respectively.
For the alumni team, Mary Erin Imwalle finished in fourth (19:50.01), recent grad and Wolfpack Invitational standout Madeline Falcone came in eighth (20:16.94), Stephanie Leglue Crews clocked a time of 20:35.65 in 12th, Courtney Gist Bouckaert in 32nd (22:32.14), and finally Becky Kramer in 36th (23:24.05). The alumni team came in fifth overall with 92 points and an average time of 21:19.76.
The Loyola men’s alumni team only fielded three competitors so their times did not count towards the end results. Sean Fitzpatrick clocked in at 15:43.23, Rich Bouckaert in 16:29.08, and Brian Ham in 20:31.08.
“The meet also went really well. It was the biggest meet we’ve had since my debut, and today marked the first time we added a middle school race to the competition. The meet steadily improves with each year,” Canegitta explains.
The cross country team will return to action October 1 at the Gulf Coast Stampede in Pensacola, Florida. Coach Canegitta plans on picking up the practice tempo as he eyes to finish every meet like the one today.
“We’re going to be increasing the mileage on our interval workouts. All in all, we performed well today, but there’s always room for improvement.”
For complete meet results of today’s event, please see http://wolfpack.loyno.edu/track/loyola-wolfpack-cross-country