With only six participating members across the men’s and women’s teams at the YSU invitational, the Kent State cross country team used the opportunity to rest and regroup for later tournaments. 

For those who ran, the women ran the 5K while the men participated in the 8K. Due to the low number of runners for the Flashes, the team didn’t qualify for any score. 

Coach Laura Rybka was still proud of the team’s performance and thought there were some good parts of the day. 

“The execution and understanding course strategy, and knowing the course ahead of time, was fantastic today,” she said. “I saw people taking tangents and running on better ground where we have not done that as well the past two meets.” 

Freshman Savanna Hershberger led the way for the women with a time of 19:38. She placed 19th individually. It’s her second top-20 finish this season.

Sophomore Emerson Greene, in her first race back after suffering a minor injury, had a time of 20:01. That time was good for a 27th-place finish. 

Freshmen Aurora Streleckis and Emily Sinton rounded out the women runners with times of 20:23 and 20:42. They placed  31st and 35th, respectively. 

For the men, freshman Carter Schilling placed 46th with a time of 29:02. Sophomore Tommy O’Neill followed him up with a time of 29:49 and placement of 54th. 

The next opportunity for the Flashes will come at the Joe Piane Invite at South Bend, IN Friday. Rybka hopes for the team to show up ready and mentally focused. 

“I would also like us to run aggressively on both sides, leaving it all on the table,” she said. “I would like to see fire.” 

John Engoglia is the sports editor. Contact him at [email protected].