The women’s cross country team is gearing up for their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship.
The team opened their season with back-to-back first-place wins at the Doug Watts Open Invitational and the Allegheny Cross Country Classic.
At the Doug Watts Open, Rock women put six runners in the top 15. Ruthie Hughes led the charge with a second-place finish in 18:16. Jennifer Cichra was two places behind, covering the 5,000-meter race in 18:43.
Sydney Heltzell, Carissa Flynn, Hannah Burgoon and Gwen Lloyd were the remaining four to finish in the top 15, all under 20 minutes.
At the Allegheny Classic, Hughes was first to cross the finish line for The Rock in third place with a time of 23:43. Cichra finished seventh in 24:26, which put two SRU runners in the top 10.
Rounding out the remaining top five scorers are Burgoon (11th), Heltzell (12th), and Flynn (15th).
The White and Green walked away with their second first-place victory, tallying a total of 39 points.
The remaining two meets of their regular season ended in third-place finishes at the Lock Haven Invitational and Carnegie Mellon University Invitational.
At Lock Haven, Cichra paved the way for Slippery Rock, finishing in 12th place with a time of 22:10. Next to cross the finish line for the White and Green would be Hughes, coming in 16th place in 22:16.
The Rock’s top five scorers were separated by only 37 seconds.
The team finished the CMU invitation in almost the same fashion, with Cichra leading the way again. Even without Hughes, The Rock still placed third with 92 points.
Consistently throughout the season, Hughes, Cichra, Heltzell, Flynn and Burgoon have represented Slippery Rock’s top five scorers.
Huges, Cichra and Burgoon are all seniors. Together, the three of them raked up three All-PSAC titles and 22 PSAC Championship qualifiers.
The team heads to the PSAC Championship race in Edinboro on Saturday with strong momentum.
