Post Season - (NCAC/NCAA)

Few times during the season are as exciting as the post season. It is where all of our team goals and dreams lead to. Now we are entering our final week of workouts and easy runs as we prepare to once again compete at the NCAA national championship. This will be the 7^th consecutive season for the men and the 1^st year in 5 for a women’s team member to step back onto the national course. It is a testament to the rich history and tradition our XC teams have to bring 9 team members to the D3 Championship meet.

NCAC

Our first stop in the post season was the North Coast Atlantic Conference Championships. The women’s race kicked off at 11:00am and held some great surprises for the lady Gator’s. Sophomore Kristina Martin had a personal best of 22:25 for the 6k enroute to a 4^th place finish. Each of the ladies ahead of Kristina will also be competing individually at the NCAA Championship meet. Junior Kelly Gallagher for the second race in a row improved her time of 23:34 on the course. After an uphill battle with anemia for the majority of the season, Kelly showed that she was still strong enough to be top conference competitor. Just this week Captain Gallagher completed her season on a positive note finishing higher in the Mid-East region than she ever has before.

Senior Amber Wetzel

Before the men’s race started, we knew we had our work cut out for us. Finishing second to a nationally strong Wabash College, our men battled to come within 12 points of the Little Giants. A strong pair of performances from Kevin Edwards and Pat McLaughlin and freshmen standouts Alex Simon and James Rynes kept the race close. Although Wabash succeeded in snapping a 7 year championship streak we have already made it a priority to bring home the hardware again next year as we will be returning 6 of our top 7 runners.

Freshmen Alex Simon and James Rynes

NCAA Regional Championship

The best feeling for a coach is when you see your athletes running their best when it matters the most. I couldn’t have imagined our races last Saturday going much better than it did. Our ladies race gave our team a buzz about the future and I think we realized that we are only one or two pieces away from bringing the whole team to the national championship. The men’s race shocked the region and the national polls. It hasn’t been a secret that I have had a chip on my shoulder all year about the lack of respect that has been shown to our men in the polls and our boys didn’t disappoint. While it is true we replaced some of the most talented runners in our program history, I have known all year that our team had the ability to improve upon our last season's performances.

Sophomore Kristina Martin

Kristina punched her first ticket to the national meet after a spectacular 15^th place finish. (7^th individual overall) With a time of 23:37 on a hilly course Kristina held of a charging Swarthmore runner to be the last lady from our region to make it to NCAA’s. It has been our hope all year that if our women’s team wasn’t selected to attend the national meet we would have some of the top ladies in the region competing for the individual spots in the NCAA race.  GO K-MART!!!

At the first mile I could tell Bobby was about to crush the competition. With a stellar pre-regional race/workout Bobby was prepared and ready for the awkward DeSales course. By mile two Bobby had solidified his position at the top of the pack. In a region that has 6 teams ranked nationally (2 in the top 5) we packed 3 runners into the top 11 finishers! It was exhilarating to hear all the talk about the Allegheny men near the finish line as people were watching us almost upset the #6 ranked team in the country at the time, Dickinson. The men are racing fast at the right time and the 26 weeks of prior training and thousands of miles ran by each individual is paying off for them.  I was about as proud as I have ever been to be the Head Coach of Allegheny XC that day. Congrats boys!! We are headed back to the big show and it is our time to shine! All of the hard work and mileage is paying off when it matters most.

Men's Regional Team and Head Coach Brent Wilkerson

Pre Regional/Regional Rumble

The last 4 weeks of training and competition have flown by!  Our past two competitions have been extremely important for us as well. DeSales’ regional preview and Oberlin’s Inner Regional Rumble place a significant role in telling us as a program how we stack up against the nation’s best. While we didn’t come out of either competition with a win we have seen some incredible performances out of our packs. With two second place finishes from our men’s team and some great front running from our women’s team we can tell that the Gators are ready for NCAC’s.

Fall training in Meadville PA, has been fantastic. Even with the steady amount of rain the Mid-East has been receiving we have been fortunate to have Ernst Bike Trail for some great workouts. Every year I am amazed at our team’s ability to rise to each workouts task and perform at their best. With the academic rigor, late study nights, and pitching contests* college can become a little stressful and I am extremely impressed with how my guys and girls handle it. I love having a team that wants to be better runners and know what it takes to achieve their goals.

Both the Pre-Regional and Rumble were challenging races. DeSales’ course was rough to say the least and a bit warm. Our top men (Vlah, McLaughlin, Over, and Edwards) worked hard to pull some of their teammates early through the first 4k of the race. Once they hit 4k it was nothing but surge. Even though we were just out to preview the course and get a decent workout in some great things happened. Our top 3 guys all somehow worked their way back into the top 15 of the race, With Bobby almost winning the race finishing in 2^nd! More importantly, we saw a significant improvement from our 5^th to 10^th man.

While the Oberlin course has one of the fastest looking set ups we were unfortunate to run on a windy/moist day. The men finished second but I think it was an even more important and successful day for the Lady Gators. Kristina Martin continued with her amazing sophomore campaign and we saw the returning debut of both Kelly Gallagher and Suzanna Kearns. I have all the respect in the world for runners who battle with illness and injury to come back to fight for their teams. I believe those ladies would sacrifice anything for their team.

We are hungry and ready to prove who we are at the conference meet. I hope the other teams are ready for our Gator pack!

Freshman Andy Sharfman

*Our favorite German team member, Kevin Edwards, bet he could throw an 80 mph fast ball. So I pulled a few strings with our baseball coach Kelly Swiney to get him under the radar gun. Even with an impressive 74mph fast ball, Kevin failed. The loss of the bet resulted in him wearing his girlfriend’s tights at the next workout, in front of the whole football team…

Kevin Edwards & Bobby Over

Knight Invite!

What an unbelievable great day we had. In almost every occasion when a team goes to a meet there is something that could be better that you cannot control. A late start time, weather, bad course, or many other harsh conditions are things we as runners have to overcome on race day. It is part of the sport and a part of what makes cross country runners special in their ability to go beyond their obstacles and still achieve their goals. However, every once in a blue moon conditions are perfect for a cross country race.

In the men’s top 5 alone a total of six minutes and 54 seconds (6:54) was taken of their previous combined 8k personal records! Their performance alone was enough to stun me until I realized that our 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th man were right on their heels (Two of which were freshmen, James Rynes/Alex Simon). It is funny to think our men’s team has been quickly shoved into the “rebuilding” category in the country even giving our talent and consistent improvement for our teams. Polls will be polls, and things outside of our control will get zero attention from our team. If we continue to work hard our men’s team can achieve their goals this year. With the quickly improving pack, our 5-9 men are stepping their game up every day to keep our program history alive.

Kristina Martin & Alex Opsitnik cheering on our men's team.

The Lady Gators were once again led by sophomore Kristina Martin. Her physical conditioning and great race conditions combined help her complete the fastest female gator time in history (17:54) on the Calvin Course. The previous best for a Lady Gator was by Mia Symoniak (09’) with a time of 18:11. Kristina finished 4^th only to women who have in previous season had been cross country and track & field All-American’s.  Our freshmen standout Andy Sharfman also had an impressive showing at the Knight Invite. Although she took the race out harder than normal and did her best to stay up with the front pack, which I have no doubt she will be there soon enough, she faded back slightly in the last 1k of the race. I couldn’t be more proud of the women’s team right now. They are a team that is battling through injuries and illnesses and still proving to put up great times and results. Much respect ladies.

Lady Gators

Bill Sudeck Classic

What an awesome start to the season! The men win their opening meet of the year and the women have the top overall finisher (Kristina Martin). On what seemed to be the hottest day of the year I was impressed with our teams ability to overcome the conditions and compete well.

On Monday after the race senior Pat McLaughlin was awarded with NCAC Runner of the Week for his performance in the 6k. Pat was the top finisher for our team, 2^nd overall, with a total time of 20:20. The top 5 pack of the men included Pat, Bobby Over, Kevin Edwards, Mike Vlah, and Jack Denison. It was great to see Jack make a huge step forward after a long off season of training. It is people like Jack that put in the hard work over the summer that make our team special.

The ladies top five consisted of event winner Kristina Martin, Andy Sharfman, Sara Mitrano, Kelly Gallager, and Amber Wetzel. Freshman Andy Sharfman is starting off as one of the fastest freshmen we have ever seen here at Allegheny. She is an extremely calm and smart racer and the ladies team couldn’t be happier to have her aboard. 

2011 Season Preview

Great expectations. That's the theme of a season beginning to be authored by a young, fresh contingent of Gators prepared to embark on a new journey as they begin their collegiate athletic careers. The journey will likely take the new Gators down the road of tradition. A tradition that includes conference champions, National qualifiers, and all-American runners and throwers.  21 new faces join the ranks of 45 returning athletes all of whom have high hopes and great expectations for the season ahead. The main objective: win Conference Championships. With everyone sharing the same winning mindset, the pressure to win is sure to usher in a successful season.

Having already arrived on campus for a week of pre-season training and team buliding, the cross country team has the first shot at securing a conference championship for both the men and the women. The men brought home their 7th consecutive team title last season with the top five guys all finishing in the top 15 runners while the women finished just 2 points behind Oberlin to take the runner-up spot at NCACs. To say the least, both teams expect to bring home the 1st place trophy this season and nothing less.  The men seek out their 8th title while the women crave their first in a decade; either way, both squads have a lot to prove this season to their conference, their region, and quite possibly the nation.

During the first week alone, the team has already built a cohesive bond, with the shared winning attitude serving as the glue that holds them all together. From easy runs at Presque Isle to the anticipation building up to the Saturday night 3K time trial, the runners are using this last week of freedom before classes begin to take the time to seriously focus on the season ahead. While injury, heartbreak, and loss are sometimes unavoidable, the men and women all share a mindset that creates a family-like atmosphere at practice. The runners know and realize that although cross country may depend heavily on individual achievement, winning is impossible without each other.

So, as we welcome the new athletes as well as the more experienced runners, the season stretches out before us, not as a daunting task to be completed or another finish line to be crossed, but as motivation for achieving those great expectations that the team has so clearly developed.  Sure enough, the pressure to win this season is there, but it's the pressure that so often forces runners to overcome challenges.  Pressure creates opportunity and this season, the team looks to use that opportunity to their advantage...it's not one that the Gators are prepared to let slip by.

Junior Kelly Gallagher