Men's Cross Country Displays Excellent Pack Running at UC Irvine Meet
A slightly cloudy morning on September 12 ushered in the start of the competitive cross country season for the Sagehens at UC Irvine Invitational, and with it, new reason to be optimistic.
John Mering PO 10 led the way for the Sagehens in a time of 26:10 for the 8 kilometer course. Mering trimmed 82 second from his time from the same meet last year, which seems staggering, until one realizes that, on average, the Sagehen Top Seven cut 2 minutes, 22 seconds from their times last year, or 28 seconds per mile.
The Sagehens upped the ante, however, by adding to their faster times a promising display of pack running. While Mering’s strong effort on Saturday placed him squarely as a front runner, behind him Charlie Enscoe PO 11 and Brian Gillis PO 10 finished one tenth of a second apart, both in 26:55. Most encouragingly of all, however, was the spread of the young, five runner pack placing 4-8 for the Sagehens: Colin Flynn PZ 12, Anders Crabo PO 12, Hale Shaw PZ 12, Paul Balmer PO 12, and Alex Johnson PZ 13. These five men finished within twelve seconds, from 27:24 to 27:36, ensuring that there will be no definitive roster for the Sagehen Top 5 or 7, and the strong push of competition will move the five underclassmen toward Mering in upcoming meets.
The Sagehens will return to action on September 19th at a competition hosted by UC Riverside. Last year, the team finished in 3rd place; 1st and 2nd place honors went to a pair of quality athletic scholarship granting institutions.
