Soderholm and Parrish lead PSC Men to 4th Place Finish at Vermont Tech XC Invitational
Vermont State College - Vermont Tech Maple Syrup XC Challenge:
9 September 2023
PSC Results
Men's 8K: Eliot Soderholm (FY/Reston, VA) again led the Bobcat men with a time of 30:06 in his first collegiate 8K race to place 14th overall and picking up 12 points. Eliot ran under control for the first 3 Km of the race, and then picked up the tempo or the remaining 5K, passing fellow runners and looked fresh as a result. Ethan Parrish (FY/Adamant, VT) was the second Bobcat to finish in 30:47, and placed 23rrd. Tyler Kirschbaum (FY/Webster, NY) finished in 31st with a time of 32:31, followed by Ryan Chiari (SO/Braintree, MA) in 32:31. Wes Burkit placed 48th with a time of 35:49 to round out the scoring five from Paul Smith's. Middlebury College won the men's 8K with 18 points followed by St. Mike's with 46 to place second. Norwich took third with 105 points, and the Bobcats placed fourth with 112. Word of Life, SUNY Canton and Vermont Tech followed in 5th – 7th place for the men's 8K.
Women's 5K: Captain Ellen Haas (JR/Red Creek, NY) placed 25th overall in the Vermont Tech Maple Syrup Challenge women's 5K race for 16 points to pace the women's team to a fifth-place finish on the Vermont Tech campus in Randolph Center, Vermont. Brooklynn Shumway (FY/Bloomingdale, NY) placed 39th in 25:08. Ellie Judice (SR: Dayton, ME) and Joanna Kerchner (FR/Reading, PA) worked together to finish in 27:34 and 27:47 respectively, followed by Alexa Adams (SR/Albion, NY) in 34:33. Middlebury continued to maintain their near decade long sting of victories at this event with 28 points, with NCAA Division II St. Michael's College in second with 33 points. Norwich University finished third with 90 points, and Word of Life fourth with 117 points. The Bobcats placed fifth with 124 points.
The Vermont Tech race was a nice test for the Bobcats on a hilly course with some quality competition leading the way from Middlebury and St. Mike's. At the college level, it is quite easy for the first-year runners to get caught up in the lead pack from the start of the race, and then blast through the first mile too fast, and as a result fade away from the quality runners for the remainder of the race. Paul Smith's runners are still adjusting to the college distances and the proper pace so they can individually and collectively run their best times. The coaches will continue to work with these athletes on pacing and working the hills in the coming weeks, as the athletes prepare for Middlebury next week, and then Hampshire College in the coming weeks. The runners are doing quite well thus far, and we expect to see their times to continue to improve as they progress in this challenging sport.
The official results can be found at: www.secondwindtiming.com/result-page/?id=260185
