PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania -- The Lake Erie cross country team raced at the Carnegie Mellon University Invitational on Saturday afternoon against many strong opponents, finishing 17th of 19 on the men's side and 19th of 19 on the women's side.
Starting with the men, senior Bryce Michaelis continued to pace his team as he finished the 8k race in a time of 28:00.8, good for 112th place overall. Fellow senior partner in crime Andrew Polcik hit the finish line quickly after at 28:09.6 (119th), with Evan Laukonis (30:45.4, 165th) placing next for the team. Freshman Aaron Smelser then not only broke 32 minutes for the first time after 33:22 and 33:56 finishes this year, but smashed it with a 31:29.5 (172nd) for a huge collegiate PR. Freshman John Molnar also ran his best 8k this season, going from a 34:10 two weeks ago to 31:49.2 today (176th). Overall, they finished 17th in the field, beating out Westminster (Pa.) and PSU-Altoona.
Switching to the women, Ayleen Villacres had an unbelievable day in the 5k. She'd run the race three times previously in her collegiate career, with a best of 23:06 last year and a time of 23:20.2 in the event at the team's last race at Youngstown State. However, Villacres decided to completely skip both 22- and 21-minute marks, jumping straight to 20:52.7! Mckenna Blore also showed out, cutting her time down by over a minute from two weeks ago, finishing at 21:02.4 for 141st place. Genesis Ghide-Bryan, a track-and-field short/mid-distance transfer from Brescia, ventured out of her comfort zone and raced in this event, coming in at a very respectable time of 21:33.2 (153rd). Sophomore Amelia Shirk also had an incredible day in her own right, breaking her personal best by nearly four minutes, dropping from a 29:21.4 to a 25:24.2. Melayna Prindle then rounded out her team's effort in her first-ever 5k, recording a time of 26:55.8.
After such an impressive individual showing from many runners today, the Storm will look to build off this when they next race at the G-MAC Championship on Saturday, October 25th hosted by Northwood.
