The Allegheny men’s and women’s cross country teams are preparing for the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships after competing at Gettysburg College’s Aubrey Shenk Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 14. The women’s team looks forward to defending their 2022 champion, while the men’s team looks to win a conference title for the first time since 2016.

Over the weekend, the women’s team finished fifth at Gettysburg and led all Division III teams. Three Gators were among the top 20, which included Celia Cocca, ‘25, Marrin Crist, ‘25, and Nelly Stafford, ‘25. Cocca was the best Division III runner at the meet with a 14th-place finish and a personal record of 22:43:1 during the 6,000-meter race.

The men’s team finished fourth at the invitational and was the best Division III team in the 8,000-meter race. Some Gators to highlight are Peter Lantz, ‘24, who finished 24th with a time of 26:04:3, and Caleb Freeman, ‘26, who set a personal record of 26:09:4 and placed 27th. Sam Hetrick, ’27, was also in the top 50, placing 34th at 26:20:5.

For the women, Cocca has been a notable runner so far this season. She earned PAC Runner of the Week from her performance at the Allegheny Classic, and she led the way for her team during their first race of the year at Mercyhurst University.

“Gettysburg was a breakthrough race for a lot of the team; we saw a lot of new personal records,” Cocca said. “I think it was a direct influence from our last race at Lehigh; we didn’t perform as well as we wanted to, and we know what we needed to change.”

According to the PAC preseason poll, the women’s team is predicted to win the championship.

“For this race, we must be gritty and stay motivated,” Cocca said. “It’s easy to stay motivated on this team; everyone has the same goal. For the women’s team specifically, we’ve been talking about race mentality and made bracelets for ourselves as reminders during the race.”

Cocca’s bracelet says, “Run happy and run sure,” which helps keep her going during the race.

Two notable Gators for the men’s teams are Lantz and Hetrick. Lantz, a senior this year, continues to lead the team in the races and at practices.

“The men’s team wants to win so badly this year,” said Lantz, “We have a pack-heavy team this year with a lot of depth, and we know it’s going to take a team effort to win this year.”

Last season, the men’s team finished runner-up to Franciscan at the Championship, but Allegheny was placed at the top of the preseason poll due to all five scoring runners placing in the top 15.
To prepare for the weekend, Lantz explained how the team has been training and what they have been focusing on mentally.

“Our team needs to calm it down and chill,” Lantz said. “We’ve been training strong all year, and this is the time where it will show.”

Lantz also explained how Cross Country Head Coach Ben Mourer ’07, has been approaching the team well.

“Coach Mourer is great; he’s getting our mindsets in the right place and giving us tips on how we can approach the race,” Lantz said. “He also keeps telling us to get the job done because he knows our team can win this year.”

However, the PAC championships are new for some of the Gators on the men’s team this year. Hetrick has also had an impressive start to his freshman year, and he’s earned PAC Newcomer of the Week twice for his performances at the Allegheny Classic and Lehigh’s Paul Short Run.

“This is my first year, I don’t have a base to go off of, so I’m just gonna go out and do the best that I can,” Hetrick said. “I haven’t had as much pressure to do something just because I’ve done it in the past. The one thing Coach Mourer has been saying that resonated with me is ‘embrace the suck’ of running a five-mile race,” he said, “It’s going to be tough, and I am nervous, but I know our team can pull out this win.”

Hetrick also has the unique opportunity to run on some of these courses. He’s a Saegertown native who only lives five minutes from campus.

“It’s fun to be able to run these courses in college,” Hetrick said. “It’s familiar to me, and I have a great support system from my new team and my family.”

The PAC Cross Country Championships are on Saturday, Oct. 28 at Thiel College in Greenville. The men’s team will compete in the 8,000-meter race at 11 a.m., and the women’s team will compete in the 6,000-meter race at noon.