Covell Places Third as Bulls Gain Experience at Penn State Invite

Friday, October 18

State College, PA

10:45 am

PSU National Invite

Covell Places Third as Bulls Gain Experience at Penn State Invite

10/18/2019 2:04:00 PM | Cross Country

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo men's and women's cross country teams traveled to State College, Pa. for the Penn State National Invite. Both squads had strong showings against tough programs.

In the men's 5.2 mile race, the Bulls ran their way to a seventh place finish. Leading the way for the Bulls was Caleb Covell with a time of 25:35.2 as he crossed the line for third place. Covell jumped nine spots from the two-mile mark to the finish line. Behind him was William Hilbert who finished in 22^nd place in a time of 26:01.4. Teammates Thomas Flannery (41^st place – 26:25.5), Cal Puskar (54^th place – 26:47.0) and Christopher Nowak (55^th place – 26:48.7) rounded out the top-five for the Bulls. With an even bigger jump from the two-mile mark to the finish line was Christopher Nowak as he jumped from 99^th place to 55^th. The Bulls competed well as they finished right behind USTFCCCA No. 4 Georgia Tech of the NCAA South Region. The Bulls beat No. 10 Lehigh, No. 11 Saint Joseph's (PA) and No. 12 Bucknell of the Mid-Atlantic Region. The Bulls currently sit at No. 14 in the NCAA Northeast Region.

"Caleb showed great strength over the race, closing his last mile very well while moving up to third in a competitive field," Associate Head Coach Todd Witzleben said. "Liam [Hilbert] and Tom [Flannery] had their strongest races of the season, so it's starting to come together. We have an important phase of training leading into the MAC Championships."

In the women's 6k race, the Bulls finished in 15^th place. Freshman Alexia Hecico finished in 51^st place in a time of 21:57.4. Rounding out the top-five for the Bulls were Meghan LaTuso (81^st place – 22:28.2), Dana Lynch (87^th place – 22:31.7), Riley Jones (102^nd place – 22:48.7) and Maxine Dupuis (113^th place – 22:57.4). The team beat MAC foe Kent State as they had lost to them last year. They will see Kent State on Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MAC Championships.

"Not our best day," stated Head Coach Vicki Mitchell. "We need to be more aggressive and stronger in the middle stages of the race."

The Bulls' next race is tomorrow as they travel to local Canisius College for the Canisius Alumni Challenge that begins at noon.

To see men's race results, please click here. To see women's race results, please click here.