BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Junior Zach Michon ran a gritty race in hot weather and soft and muddy course conditions to take home a 22nd-place finish in a field of 359 runners at the 45th annual Paul Short Run on Saturday afternoon. As a team, the Saint Joseph's men's cross country squad placed 14th in a field of 41 in the Gold Race, which was hosted at Lehigh University's Goodman Campus.
Michon hit the first mile in 4:54 and went on to average a 5:01 mile average for 8k en route to a total time of 24:51. His new collegiate-best time is an improvement on his previous 8k PR by four seconds and is an improvement on his 2016 Paul Short Run time - his only other Goodman Campus 8k test - by over 36 seconds.
“I put myself out there hard in the beginning with some of the top guys, which was just tough for me because these are high-level runners,” said Michon following the race. “But I just went in, and I didn't want to be afraid of them because that's where I want to be. Throughout the race, I gained spots and I lost spots, but I was within 20-25 seconds of the leaders, which I'm very happy about.”
Graduate student captain Collin Crilly ran 25:31 for 84th and senior Jack Daly ran a Goodman Campus PR of 25:32 for 87th to finish as SJU's #2 and #3 runners. Notably, Daly was 242nd at the first mile and improved 155 places by the end of his race.
Sophomore Matthew Scarpill (25:49) finished 131st while sophomore Bobby Hastie was just four seconds off from his 8k PR in 25:52 for 141st to round out the scoring for the Crimson and Gray.
Senior Will Sponaugle ran the first sub-26:00 8k of his collegiate career to finish 147th (25:56 PR) while junior John Walker went 26:10 for 187 to finish as SJU's #6 and #7 runners.
“We knew that since it's such a big field, position early was going to be important,” added Michon. “As far as the team performance, it wasn't our best day overall, but you never lose in that situation. You gain a lot through learning from mistakes and getting experience in these bigger races.”
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Earlier that morning, the Hawks finished seventh in a field of 33 squads in the Open Race, led by senior captain Justin Branco's 36th-place finish in a field of 437 runners.
Branco averaged a 5:17 mile time and defeated Buffalo's Ryan Buzby and Patrick Hazlitt by two seconds with an overall time of 26:10.
“The race was a little muddy, so it was hard to keep your feet from sliding around, but overall, it wasn't too bad,” said Branco following the morning race. “I'm happy we had such great weather and that I was able to rally up the team and get a good showing out here.”
Juniors Josh Clark (64th, 26:35) and Colin Gallagher (67th, 26:36) finished as SJU's #2 and #3 runners while freshman Ben Bunch ran his first collegiate 8k for 26:38 (74th). Junior Joey Angelina (83rd, 26:43) rounded out the scoring.
Saint Joseph's will take a weekend off from competition and return for its final opportunity for regular-season action at both the Princeton Invitational on Friday, October 12 and the Lafayette Invitational on Saturday, October 13. The 2018 Atlantic 10 Championship will follow, on Saturday, October 27.
