Last Saturday, both the men’s and women’s cross-country teams traveled to Lock Haven University to compete in the annual Lock Haven Invitational. Both teams showed up ready to compete, with several runners beating their all-time personal bests.

One runner with a personal best was Brody Carlin, a sophomore secondary education major.

“As a whole, our team really stepped up and showed credibility and dominance,” Carlin said.

The men’s team placed 11th overall in the 8,000-kilometer race, with a 27-minute average.

Leading the men was senior captain Xavier Stephens in 10th, topping his own school record with a time of 25 minutes and 47 seconds.

Following Stephens was Carlin in 77th, Bryan Gutierrez in 91st, Carlos Polanco in 105th, John Ziegler in 168th, Dylan Allen in 180th and Deven Carter in 187th.

“I feel as though I could’ve done a little better than my time, but for right now it’s a step in the right direction,” Carlin said.

On the women’s team, Alyssa Campbell led the pack with a 14th place finish, running a time of 21 minutes and 54 seconds.

“I feel very good. There were 404 girls who raced, so you really have to go out hard, as hard as you can, so that you won’t get boxed in,” Campbell said. “I went out really hard for the first mile, and I tried my hardest to maintain this speed throughout the whole race.”    

Behind Campbell was Reba Bartram in 43rd, Alyssa Boyd in 98th, Alyssa Frausto in 99th, Natalia Zucco in 159th, Alex Barr in 205th and Mya Jackson in 384th.

“I think we did so well because our training over the past few weeks has been very intense, and everyone is doing well,” Campbell said. “It’s hyping everyone up. We were very excited for the meet to see how we would all do.”

Following the meet, head coach Jim Spisak was pleased with how the runners performed.

“Yesterday was an improvement across the board,” Spisak said. “They competed well and ran tough. Still some work to go, but it was a positive day overall.”

Spisak also mentioned many runners beat their personal bests, in addition to displaying much improvement since the Bethany Invitational.

“There really were a number of performances that stood out,” Spisak said. “Xavier [Stephens] placed tenth and broke his own school record. That was a good run for him. A few of the freshman guys ran really well. It was a good learning experience for all of them. The consensus is that yesterday was positive, but we know there’s still a ways to go.”

The Pioneers will head to the Carnegie Mellon University Invitational for their next meet on Saturday, October 12.