The Waynesburg University cross country teams has wrapped the regular season up. They raced in the Aubrey Shenk Invitational Friday, Oct. 19, and Saturday, Oct. 20. The women placed 12th out of 28 teams and the men finished 11th out of 26 teams. This was another massive race, as there were 267 men racing, and the women had 244 runners. 

With the next race that the Yellow Jackets will partake in being the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship, Head Coach Chris Hardie shared what he wants to stress before racing.

“I have really been stressing a tough mindset as we head into the postseason. The team is in great shape and running workouts really well,” Hardie said. “For some reason, that hasn’t translated into good races until Gettysburg. We might be turning the corner and getting ready for some great finishes to the season.”

The men’s team saw senior Andrew Kasper finish 22nd overall, and graduate student Quintin Weaver finish 26th overall. Freshman Lucas Means finished 109th overall, which rounded out the Yellow Jackets top three runners. Kasper and Weaver both finishing in the top-30 is one of the most impressive things they have done this year considering the size of the competition.

Means reflected on how his first regular season went, and how he is preparing for the PAC championship.

“Overall it went good, I hit the records I wanted to. I hit sub 28 so that was good, definitely some improvement, but for the overall first year for a freshman it was good,” Means said. “Really focusing on running, focusing on the team aspect, a lot of dedication and training.”

The women’s team had sophomore Grace Tanksley finish 51st overall, senior Gabi Reifsnyder finished six seconds behind her coming in 58th overall, the third Jacket to cross the line was senior Joula Anderson who finished 131st overall. Tanksley also got a new personal best with a time of 24:03, but she feels there will be more improvement as she gets ready for the PAC Championships.

“We are at the point of the season where we are at peak fitness, so now it’s all about keeping a positive mentality. It is difficult but you have to keep reminding yourself that you belong with those top runners and that you can be just as fast as them,” Tanksley said. “So far, I have been really frustrated with racing because I felt like I was not improving and stuck. However, in this last race I was able to break past my mental block and almost made it under 24 minutes.”

The Yellow Jackets will rest for the week as they prepare for the PAC Championships on Oct. 28.