Cross Country Set for Championship Run on Saturday
The PSUGA Cross Country team is set to run in the PSUAC Championships on Saturday at 1 p.m. PSUGA will send three runners to the event as they try and continue to improve on their race times.
McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) Cross Country Championships will be held Saturday as eight teams from across the PSUAC will converge on Norlo Park in Fayetteville, PA. The Penn State Greater Allegheny Cross Country team will have three runners participating at the event and will strive to improve as they have done at each race this season.
PSUGA last ran in the Carnegie Mellon Invitational on October 12th. Their top two performers each lowered their times while competing against some of the best runners from NCAA Division II and Division III programs. The men ran an 8K race and the women ran a 6K race preparing them for the competition they will face on Saturday.
Max Shugerman (Turtle Creek, PA./Woodland Hills HS) paced PSUGA’s men’s team at CMU finishing 81st out of 110 racers with a time of 30:23.50. It was Shugerman’s best 8K race of the season as he knocked just over a minute off his previous best time, pacing a 6:06 mile during the race.
On the women’s side, Eladia Kennedy (Pittsburgh, PA./Imani Christian Academy) showed the biggest improvement for PSUGA despite her finishing in the bottom third of the race. Kennedy finished her 6K run in 27:10.64 and placed 125th in the field. She knocked off nearly four minutes of her 6K time, pacing an 8:24 mile. She is in the discussion as a serious contender at Saturday’s championships.
After a year hiatus, the PSUGA Cross Country team is once again making a splash in the PSUAC. The last time PSUGA sent a runner to the championship event was in 2017 when former Lion Fernando Leira represented the team. Leira finished seventh overall in that race with a time of 32:19 and earned PSUAC First-Team All-Conference honors.
Saturday marks the second time this season PSUGA runners will take the course at Norlo Park, having competed there on September 21st. The race will run throughout the park with the women’s 6K race running 1.5 laps. The men’s 8K race will run two full laps around the park. After the race, two team trophies will be awarded and the top-five finishers for men and for women will receive medals.
The day will start with a course walk-through at 11 a.m. followed by the coaches meeting at 12:30 p.m. The women’s race is set to begin at 1 p.m. followed by the men’s race five minutes after the completion of the women’s race.