Race recap

Cross County Returns to the XC Course at Delaware Invitational

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The Delaware club cross country team made its return to White Clay Creek State Park for the first time since September of 2019 in the 2021 Delaware Invitational on Saturday. Full results can be found here.

The women started off the morning with a 57 point, second place finish out of a six team field and placed all of its seven runners in the top 30.

Senior Bailey Davin finished 12th and led the way for the Blue Hens with a time of 25:14. Davin’s time is only five seconds off her 2019 performance of 25:09 at White Clay, which is sixth all-time. Senior Talia Brookstein-Burke ran a course personal best of 26:00.2 and in her first ever college race, sophomore Jenna Mlecko finished 17th with a time of 26:04.2.

Senior Allison Einig and junior Madeleine Dorley rounded out the scoring five for Delaware with times of 26:52.5 and 28:36.7. Sophomore Emily Ward and freshman Lauren Pollock in their college cross country debuts took the final two top seven spots with times of 28:55.5 and 29:37.6.

“It’s a really tough course to start out with, but everybody put in a lot of good work today and we had a lot of great results,” Davin said.

On the men’s side, two runners broke the sub-30 barrier including a top 10 all-time performance by junior and Boston College transfer Alex Horgan. Horgan surpassed Chris Kitson and now sits sixth all-time with his 27:04.8 time. Horgan took second place overall.

Senior Paul Filipow placed 12th and crossed the line second for Delaware with a personal course best of 29:38.5. Senior Schuyler Reed, graduate student Bryant Cordova and junior Sasha Latina all finished in under 31 minutes, with times of 30:25.3, 30:28.5 and 30:45.3 respectively. Sophomore’s Cam Harrington and Daniel Giron rounded out the top seven with their first ever 8k times of 31:15.1 and 31:46.3.

“I really enjoyed the hill mid race, it’s in fact so nice I could do it twice,” Filipow said. “Overall, really proud with the team today, really proud to see what we can do for Princeton, Lehigh and beyond.”

The cross country team will travel to Princeton University on Oct. 17 to race at the Princeton Invitational.

UD vs. Duke Virtual 5k

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This weekend, the University of Delaware’s Club Cross Country team started the 2020 cross country season in a way no hen, blue or otherwise, could have ever predicted. The new normal of virtual races is sweeping the running community as competitors seek to test themselves even without the promise of a pre-race corral or post-race festival. Our opening invite featured 20 blue hens racing against Duke University’s (somewhat measly) turnout of five blue devils in a virtual 5k.

Junior Morgan Gallagher placed first overall for the women with a time of 20:03, paced by her boyfriend and done along the scenic Hudson River. Following her race, Gallagher reported, “Not an easy run but I definitely surprised myself.”

Senior Emily Magoon, a veteran runner, and solo running expert surprised herself as well, not just with her time of 22:11, but with how she was able to stay focused throughout. Her tips for those running virtual races: “Wear your race day outfit, imagine your support squad cheering,” and “imagine you’re in a pack or chasing the next pack.” Thanks, Emily!

For the boy’s team, sophomore Sasha Latina snagged first place in a time of 16:27- a 35 second PR! “I have been working my a** off this summer,” Latina said, “and everything finally clicked.”

Junior Schuyler Reed crossed the (virtual) line just 20 seconds after Latina (virtually!) in a time of 16:47. Freshman Cam Harrington rounded out the boy’s top three with a time of 17:13.

“This was the first hard effort for me in a long time,” Harrington said, “so it was exciting and felt good to get out and push it again.”

Next up for us is a virtual 5k against the Minnesota Running Club on September 26th- stay tuned to see who would win in a fight: blue chickens or golden gophers.

Sophomore Sasha Latina wins the boy’s race in 16:27