Personal Records Lead Way for Elon Cross Country at Paul Short Run

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Senior Brigid Brennan clocked the second-fastest 6K time in school history as the Elon University cross country programs were in action at the 44th annual Paul Short Run at Lehigh University on Friday morning and afternoon, Sept. 29 at the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course.
Women’s Open Results | Women’s Gold Results | Men’s Brown Results

Competing in one of the largest cross country meets in the nation with nearly 6,000 athletes from 450 schools, the Phoenix saw multiple members from both the men’s and women’s side set new personal-bests in the 6K and 8K races.

“This is the best that we have competed this season,” said Elon head cross country coach Kevin Jermyn. “I was proud to see the team compete tough in our first 6K and 8K of the season and against a very large and competitive field.”

Brennan took charge in the women’s 6K “Gold” race, clocking her new personal-record of 20:53 while finishing 56th in a field of 368 runners. The time move the Northport, N.Y., native to second on the program’s all-time performance list, just two seconds shy of Kimberly Johansen’s record of 20:51. Brennan’s time was also over a minute better than her previous personal-record of 21:55.2.

Fellow senior Corey Weiss also set a new personal-record and moved into the program’s top-10 performance list with her time of 21:19 – over a minute better than her previous personal-best. The Short Hills, N.J., native now has the seventh-fastest 6K time in school history. Junior Coralea Geraniotis also clocked a personal-best in her season debut as the Orleans, Mass., native ran a time of 21:32, the eighth-best performance in school history.

Melissa Anastasakis was next to cross the line for the Phoenix with her time of 21:58 – just missing her personal-best. Rookie Bridget Kanaley rounded out the top-five scores for the Phoenix women with her time of 23:24 as Elon finished 27th overall in the race.

“Our top four women competed particularly well, with Brigid, Corey and Coralea running the second, seventh and eighth fastest 6K cross country times in school history and Melissa narrowly missing her 6K (personal-record) by four seconds,” said Jermyn.

On the men’s side, redshirt sophomore Colton Lawson set a new personal-record in the men’s 8K “Brown” race. The Bahama, N.C., native ran a time of 25:57 to lead the maroon and gold male harriers. Richie Kasper was next to cross the line for the Phoenix with his time of 26:04 – four seconds shy of tying his personal-best.

Greg Paugh (26:54), Josh Kruppa (26:57), Justin Leopold (27:14), Cooper Jansson (27:24) and Michael Germinario (27:58) rounded out the group that competed for Elon in the race. Overall, the Phoenix finished 12th in the “Brown” race.

“Our men’s team was led by a massive personal-record performance by Colton, who broke both 27 and 26 minutes for the first time with a 25:57 8K clocking,” said Jermyn. “Richie narrowly missed his PR by four seconds with a 26:04 performance, Greg improved nicely from his last race and Josh ran an 8K PR. We didn’t put all of the pieces required of a great team performance yet, but we improved a lot.”

Elon also had select members of the women’s team compete in the 6K open race. Rachael Wesolowski was the Phoenix’s top runner in the race with her time of 23:14. Paige King was close behind Wesolowski with a time of 23:16. Lauren Lynch was third behind King with her time of 23:59. Abby Reimer was next with a time of 24:58 while Kelly McCarten closed out the group in the race with a 25:19.

“I’m excited to see the team gain confidence from this performance, train at a higher level, and race stronger in the Pre-NCAA and VertCross meets in two weeks,” said Jermyn. “The best is yet to come with this team.”

The Phoenix will take a break before splitting for a pair of meets the weekend of Oct. 13-14. Select members of both programs will compete at the High Point VertCross on Friday, Oct. 13, in Kernersville, N.C., before others will race at the NCAA Pre-Nationals the following day, Oct. 14, in Louisville, Ky.