Waynesburg Athletics From September 24, 2022
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. (Sept. 24) – After nearly two weeks away from competition, the Waynesburg men’s and women’s cross country teams went north to take part in a stacked Lock Haven Invitational. The event hosted thirty-four colleges from the east coast, including acclaimed Division I and II programs such as Cornell, Slippery Rock, and Seton Hill. It also hosts other familiar opponents to Waynesburg such as Messiah and Presidents’ Athletic Conference rivals Geneva and Saint Vincent.
Despite heavy competition, the Yellow Jackets represented well, with the men placing 27th and the women placing one spot higher. Three runners from the women’s team placed in the upper half of their race. Those individuals were Gabi Reifsnyder, Grace Tanksley, and Reagan Pettis, with the latter posting a team high in time (24:11.20) and placement (126th out of 285).
When Waynesburg head coach Chris Hardie commented on Pettis’ impressive performance and what he is looking for out of his freshman, he seemed to not want to overcomplicate his expectations.
“We prefer to keep things simple for freshman runners,” Hardie said. “We try not to put additional pressure on them, or work them very hard the first year. But I have talked with Reagan about making some changes so that she can peak at the right time during the big races.”
Hardie has had a lot of time to train with his runners, considering that Waynesburg has not been in an event since the PAC Preview on Sept. 9 at Saint Vincent College. The teams will have another prolonged gap until their next competition, which will be the annual Homecoming 5K on Oct. 8.
Hardie does not see this as a detriment to his runners, as it seems that he will be keeping practices fairly similar to the norm.
“Our goal going into the season was to have fun and stay healthy,” Hardie said. “So we are intentionally lowering mileage and quantity of work. This has kept everyone fresh and has kept the confidence high. We will continue to train with those two priorities in mind as we head into a lighter section of our racing calendar.”
That seems to be the case for Hardie, as following the Homecoming 5K sees only three more competitions for the Jackets at this moment. The events are the Aubrey Shenk Invitational on Oct. 15, the PAC Championships on Oct. 29, and the NCAA Regional Championships on Nov. 12, which will determine the participants at the national tournament further on.