MTU’s Pengelly wins first career X-C race
KENOSHA, Wis. — Sean Pengelly earned his first collegiate win and Deedra Irwin ran to a third-place finish at the Lucian Rosa Invitational today. The men’s team took sixth place of 17 teams at the event while the women were 12th of 20 squads at UW-Parkside’s Dannehl National Cross Country Course.
Pengelly completed the eight-kilometer course in 25 minutes flat to be the first collegiate runner across the line. Three other Huskies clocked in under 26:30. Calvin Nitz turned in a 26:16 to finish 37th. Jason Saliga (42nd) and Jani Lane (46th) were right on his heels with times of 26:23 and 26:29, respectively. Daniel Kulas rounded out the Huskies scoring with a 54th place result (26:44).
“Sean really ran a heck of a race today,” said Tech coach Joe Haggenmiller. “To go 25 flat on this course is really special.
“The rest of the guys really closed the gap on Sean, which is saying something since Sean ran so well.”
Irwin’s third-place finish came in a time of 17:56. She passed five opponents in the final 500 meters and crossed the line less than a half second ahead of two of those competitors. Elise Dombkowski was the 67th collegiate woman to finish with a 19:32 clocking. Fellow freshman Emily Vigil was just four spots and five seconds back (68th/19:37). Ulrika Axelsson (84th/19:52) and Alice Flanders (89th/19:56) also figured into Tech’s team score. Liz Bloch and Amber Peabody were two more Huskies under the 20-minute mark (both at 19:57).
“Deedra had a great day breaking 18 minutes for the first time in her life,” said Haggenmiller. “It was great to see the two freshmen in our top three, and also really good to have so many ladies come in with sub-20 times on a tough course.”
Michigan Tech will have a weekend off before taking part in the U.P. Championships in Marquette, Mich., Oct. 24.
(Information Courtesy of MTU Athletics)