GREENVILLE Pa. -- Freshman Dominic Flitcraft (Aliquippa, Pa. / Hopewell) punctuated his strong freshman season Saturday by racing to a runner-up finish at the 2023 Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship meet. The time of 26:05.42 helped Flitcraft earn PAC Newcomer of the Year honors and All-PAC First Team status. W&J placed second in the team standings.
The Red & Black put a pair of runners in the top five at the PAC Championship Saturday morning. The event was hosted by Thiel College at the Greenville Airport in Mercer County.
Brock Pennington (North East, Pa. / North East) posted a strong effort. The junior registered a time of 26:17.02 to finish fourth. The fourth place showing helped Pennington garner All-PAC First Team laurels.
Julian Paul (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Montour) finished with a time of 26:39.53 to finish just outside the Top 10 in 11th place. The finish earned All-PAC Second Team status for Paul.
Coming in fourth for W&J was Daniel Deal (Butler, Pa. / Knoch) with a time of 27:21.27. This finish would secure Deal 21st place overall, who improved 53 spots from his 74th place finish at last year's championships. Deal secured Honorable Mention All-PAC status with the finish.
Jake Sinclair (Beallsville, Pa. / Beth-Center) placed 30th clocking in with a time of 27:47.45 while Shaun Walker (Washington, Pa. / Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter) would follow less than a minute later, crossing the finish at 28:32.05 to secure 50th place in the 114-runner field.
Sophomore Lorenzo Zeni (Monongahela, Pa. / Ringgold) finished next for the Red & Black with a time of 29:29.4. Finishing in the same minute for W&J were Collin Helmick (Salem, Ohio / Salem) and Ram Karamcheti (Washington, Pa. / Washington) with times of 29:49.2 and 29:57.2 respectively.
John Ridilla (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bishop Canevin) and Austin Stuchul (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Penn Hills) would then round out the Presidents' runners with times of 32:50.1 and 34:14.6 respectively.
St. Vincent claimed the team title with a score of 56. Following W&J was Allegheny in third (76). Grove City would claim fourth (99) with Geneva trailing closely behind to pick up fifth place (102). Waynesburg (155) and Franciscan (165) would finish next in sixth and seventh, respectively. Theil (241), Westminster (268), and Chatham (286) would round out the competing teams.
Head Coach Andy Upton on Dom Flitcraft's performance:
"Dom is a special athlete. He ran a very good race today like he has for most of the season. Each week he has learned something new and got stronger from week to week. Today he just ran into a very good runner who ran a very good race so today was another learning experience. Dom has a great head for the sport and a desire to be great. The next three years are going to be a lot of fun watching him continue to grow."
Head Coach Andy Upton on the overall performance from the W&J teams:
"I'm very proud of everybody, men and women. They were as focused as I've ever seen a team today. We had great effort by everybody and several great performances as well. We set big goals as a team today and came up a little short but the overall finishes by both teams were one of the highest finishes in school history and ones to be proud of."
Up Next: The Presidents will head to Lock Haven University for NCAA Regionals on Nov. 11. The meet will be held at West Branch Cross Country Course.
