By: Kate Wiggins
The Golden Griffs took action again this past Friday and Saturday at the Youngstown State University Mid-Major Invitational in Youngstown, Ohio. Both the men’s and women’s team performed exceptionally well, taking home several top-five finishes on both days of the event.
Starting the two day event off, junior Olivia Moran took fifth place in the 1000-meter race with a time of 3:15.20 and senior Bailey Pierce came in just a second behind with a time of 3:16.93 to take sixth place. Both the men’s and women’s ‘A’ relay teams both took second place in their respective distance medleys. The men’s team had a finishing time of 10:18.09, which was run by senior Michael Peppy, graduate student Turner Dirrigl, sophomore Ronan McDonald and junior Andrew Perreault. The women’s team finished with a time of 12:27.49, which was run by junior Marissa Silba, sophomore Kate Gawronski, graduate student Leah Wardner and senior Libby Benzer.
On the second day of the event, in the 3000-meter race, Benzer crossed the finish line with a time of 10:17.52, earning herself a second-place title. Silba came a few places behind, taking fifth place with a time of 10:28.45. In the mile run, Moran and freshman Jules Jones took a pairing 18th and 19th place with the times 5:28.98 and 5:29.15, respectively. Junior Bria Jordan had a stellar time of 8.77 in the 60-meter dash, setting a program record. For the men’s team, Peppy took fourth place in the 3000-meter run, crossing the finish line with a time of 8:30.70, and Perreault crossed the line just milliseconds behind Peppy, with a time of 8:30.97, to take fifth.
In the upcoming weeks, the Griffs will compete at the RIT Invitational in Rochester and the David Hemery Valentine Invite in Boston.