Franciscan University and La Roche College both competed at the Bethany College Invitational on Saturday morning. The Franciscan women took 12th out of 16 teams, while the La Roche women finished in 16th place. The Lady Barons ran closely as a team to push each other to several personal bests in the 6K race. Both the men's and women's squads from Franciscan ran with limited rosters due to many runners preparing for the National Catholic Cross Country Championships at Notre Dame next Friday. The Baron men did not field a complete team to earn a team score, while the Redhawk men placed 14th out of the 19 team field.
Franciscan freshman Morgan Litterer led the pack with a personal-best time of 28:41 in college races as she took 63rd overall. Not far behind was freshman Mary Grayson, also with a personal best, at 29:08. Junior Francesco Santos ran her fastest time of the season with a 69th place finish at 29:18.
La Roche senior Andrea Luciano led the charge with a 30:18 on the 6K course. Freshman Elizabeth Shields crossed the line at 34:27 while freshmen Seirra Anderson (40:47), Keesha Stuart (50:17) Shaedaya Varlack (51:21) were not far back.
The La Roche College men's cross country team placed fourteenth out of the nineteen team field. Freshman Kieran Hunt continued the strong start to his collegiate career running a 35:22 on the 8K course. Johnny Nicholson finished just one spot back at 35:41 and and eighty-fourth place finish. Freshman Patrick Dailey (38:28) and senior Bryan Gatto (38:49) came in just 21 seconds apart while junior Chris Ebbert finished in 48:01.
While the men did not field a complete team to earn a team score, freshman Mark Borek had a strong showing as the lone men's runner. Running in his first collegiate race, Borak took seventh overall with a time of 27:12.