Angelina WagnerThe men’s and women’s cross country team took part in the Belmont Classic on Saturday, Oct 5. The men finished in 11th place overall. The leading runner for the men’s team was sophomore, Mike Bittner with a time of 35:17:72. The women were led by senior Andrea Dragone with a time of 25:42:26.
Bittner feels that he could have done better since his time the previous weekend was 34:25. “I felt it was a lot harder because of the heat and the hills,” Bittner said of his performance this weekend. “This is also the first meet that we had five guys.”
Dragone was the only female running for Cabrini so she is concentrating on “fulfilling individual goals.” Dragone also feels that she could have done better on Saturday. “It was not my best time at all. I could have done better.”
Coach Tom O’Hora said, “It has been a very frustrating season so far.” Last year, Cabrini shocked the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference finishing second in both the men’s and the women’s races.
Based on the Cabrini’s past reputation, the men’s team was picked to come in second this year. O’Hora feels as though the pick was “baseless.” “We did not have a good year recruiting last year. On top of that, one of our top runners was hurt and had to have knee surgery over the summer. This has really hurt team morale and so far, the team has not been performing up to their potential.”
O’Hora says that the top runner thus far is Bittner. “We are hoping that we can rebound and have a decent showing in the PAC.”
The women’s team was also picked second for this season. However, the women’s team may be suffering more then the men’s team. Unlike the men, the women had some freshman coming up that they were sure would help them. “Disaster struck even before the season began,” O’Hora said. “One of the top runners got mono, two had knee problems and were forced to stop running this year.”
The women are led by senior captain Dragone, one of the top runners in the PAC last year. O’hora feels that she is showing signs of doing even better this year.
The next meet is the Albright Invite on Saturday, Oct. 12 at Alvernia. The determining factor in the PAC championship comes down to one race. It will be held on Nov. 2nd at Belmont. Cabrini will be the host school this year.
