TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Aoibhe Richardson's performances this fall appear to get bigger as the meets she runs in get bigger.
Saturday, she ran away with her second consecutive victory, dominating the Pre-National Invitational at Indiana State's LaVerne Championship Cross Country Course – the site of this year's NCAA National Championships – with a 14-second victory in the women's 6-kilometer white race.
And the meets only get bigger from here.
WOMEN
Like she's done multiple times this season, Richardson put everyone behind her in the final 2,000 meters. She was neck-and-neck with Iona's Egle Morenaite at the 4,000-meter mark, but would pull away to win the race by more than 14 seconds in the equivalent of five laps on the track, running 20 minutes, 32.1 seconds for the win.
"Aoibhe again showed great poise and assertiveness at the front," said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country
Pat McCurry.
In an elite field that featured nine regionally ranked squads and with No. 2 runner
Elissa Mann resting for the West Coast Conference Championships in two weeks, the Dons finished 10th as a team. True freshman
Sophie Soefeldt was the Dons No. 2 runner, finishing 52nd in 22:31.9. Fellow freshman
Eve Jensen wasn't far behind, finishing 65th with a time of 22:40.4.
Anna Tait placed 79th in 22:52.6, and
Abby Pradere put all five of the Dons' scorers in the top-100 with a 97th-place finish in 23:08.5.
Josien Scheepens was USF's sixth runner, finishing 121st in 23:31.1
"Sophie took a huge step forward from her last race as she is coming into full fitness," added McCurry.
MEN
Also missing one of their top-two runners in
Hugh Nicklason, the men ran an excellent team race on Saturday, finishing third as a team with two in the top-20 and three in the top-50 in a race that featured more than 130 runners and six regionally ranked programs from across the country.
Andy Snyder ran a season-best 24:50.5 across the men's 8 km course and finished third overall to lead USF.
Sam Stevens came across the line with a large chase pack, finishing 16th in 25:26.1.
Jacob Hernandez tucked under the 26-minute mark for the second time this season, running 25:58.4 to finish 46th.
Caleb Haugland (54th, 26:07.0) and
Daniel Maneloveg (57th, 26:09.6) weren't far behind him, as the men packed their top-five within 79.1 seconds of each other. That helped carry them past all six regionally ranked teams in the race – Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Georgia, Eastern Kentucky (the No. 3 team in the Southeast region), Oakland and Vanderbilt.
Hiruy Alemseged was the Dons' No. 6 runner (129th, 29:43.9).
"The guys put together a really nice team race," said McCurry. "For being short-handed, sitting out Elissa and Hugh to prioritize having them at conference, the teams put together solid races today in strong fields."
COMING UP
San Francisco will rest for two weeks before heading to Southern California on Nov. 2 for the 2019 West Coast Conference Championships in Los Angeles.
