The Waynesburg University’s men’s cross country team traveled to Carnegie Mellon University on Saturday, Sept. 30.

The men’s cross country team performed in their fourth meet of the season where 22 out of 24 runners participated in the event for the Yellow Jackets, who traveled to Newville, Pennsylvania to participate in the 4,000 and 8,000-meter race. Waynesburg ended up finishing 9th out of 14 teams which head coach Chris Hardie said he was pleased with.

“I thought they did really well and I was really happy with the performance. We kind of had a game plan with how we went about with this race which was a two race format in itself,” said Hardie. “The goal for us was to hold our own in the 8000-meter race with some of our top runners and the 4000-meter race gave us more options and overall they executed the strategy very well.”

Freshman Mac Colomb led all Waynesburg runners in the 8000-meter race with a time of 27:50 which was 46th out of 142 runners. Freshman Matt Durgin finished second out of all the Waynesburg runners clocking in at 28:02 giving him 52nd place.

Junior Joel Kuzminski rounded out the top three of Waynesburg runners in the 8000-meter race, finishing 84th place with a time of 29:24.

Out of the top finishers, Colomb said he felt comfortable with the long distance.

“Overall, I think I did really well,” said Colomb. “I like the longer distances better than the shorter distances so I held on pretty well and the back part of the course was really hilly so it was kind of back and forth for awhile with me and Matt Durgin, but in the end, we helped each other out.”

The Waynesburg Yellow Jackets’ second event was the 4000-meter race which was led by freshman Nate Jecelin, who finished 33rd and clocking in with a time of 13:12. Freshman Jordan Payne finished 41st place with a time of 13:25.

Jacket freshman Matt Mansfield finished 57th out of 148 runners with a time of 13:39, which rounded out the top three runners for Waynesburg.

For Jecelin, he said he was pleased with the combination of pace and endurance.

“I think I did really well,” said Jecelin. “I’m better at shorter distances because my speed and endurance mixed together blends together well, so during the race I was feeling very confident and I was trying to keep my mile pace evenly throughout the whole race.”

Contributing to the men’s cross country program in the previous week to prepare for the invitational, Hardie said assistant coach Laurel Rush was crucial.

“Men’s assistant coach Laurel Rush was vital this past week about talking strategy and getting this team ready for the meet,” said Hardie. “She puts out a great training workout for the week and her strategy for the runners was really good.”

Even though the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships is scheduled to take place Saturday, Oct. 28, all the runners want to improve their paces and techniques beforehand. The overall goal for the men’s cross country team is to finish in the top three in the championship this year.

“I need to try to stay more consistent with my times because in the earlier stages of the race I do fine,” said Jecelin. “When the race is half way or three quarters complete I fall back and I need to work on being consistent throughout the race and being up there with the pack. If I lower my time and stay consistent then the results will come out better.”

The Waynesburg men’s cross country team will travel to Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the Carnegie Mellon Invitational next. This event is scheduled to take place Saturday, Oct. 7 at 11 a.m.