Women’s XC Heads to Friendship Invite Saturday

// THE STARTING LINE
The University of Cincinnati women's cross country team is set to return to action this weekend as the Bearcats will travel north to Cedarville, Ohio, for the 29th Friendship Invitational taking place Saturday at the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course on the Cedarville University campus. The women will run in the second race of the day with their 5,000m run set to start at 10:15 a.m.

// FOLLOW US
For up to the minute updates, follow UC Track & Field/Cross Country (@GoBearcatsTFXC) on Twitter, Facebook (GoBearcatsTFXC) and Instagram (GoBearcatsTFXC) and join in the conversation by using the hashtag #Bearcats. This week, fans can also follow @NCAATrackField on Twitter and join the conversation with the hashtag #ncaaXC.

// QUICK SPLITS
• Only the women will be running for UC this week before both the men and women run together again next week at the Rhodes College Invitational in Memphis
• Both teams saw two individuals place in the Top 10 at the Queen City Invitational August 31 with the men placing second as a team and the women third
• In that first meet, eight freshmen raced in their first collegiate event, including five women and three men

// THE COMPETITION
This year's meet will feature runners from 14 teams with 13 teams each in the women's 5,000m run and the men's 8,000m run as UC will send just its women's squad and Wilberforce its men's. Along with the Bearcats and host Yellow Jackets, the field in the women's race also includes: Central State, Cincinnati Christian, Cumberland (TN), Cumberlands (KY), Dayton, Eastern Mennonite, Edison CC, Miami's Running Club, Northern Kentucky, Ohio and Thomas More.

// THE MEET
The 29th edition of the Friendship Invitational will feature nine races on the day, starting with the collegiate men's 8,000m run at 9:30 a.m. Following the women's race at 10:15 a.m., the high schools take over with the boys and girls each running the 5,000m course. The four races will feature Division I schools at 10:50 a.m. (boys) and 11:25 a.m. (girls) before the combined Division II/III races take place at 12:05 p.m. (boys) and 12:40 p.m. (girls). The final two races will run at 1:20 p.m. (boys) and 1:50 p.m. (girls) with the boys and girls, respectively, in middle school running a 3,200m course. Finally, once all races have concluded, a community run will be held on the course.

// RESULTS
Results for the Friendship Invitational will be provided by FinishTiming and can be found at Live.FinishTiming.com the day of the races. A recap and full set of results will be available on GoBearcats.com following the conclusion of the meet.

// LAST TIME • FRIENDSHIP
The last time the Bearcats competed in the Friendship Invitational came in the 2016 season when UC placed second as a team and placed three runners in the Top 10. In the team standings, Cedarville won the meet with 19 points and was followed in the Top 3 by UC (54) and Taylor (81). Individually, the Bearcats were led by Hannah Christ (8th), Meg Westerheide (9th) and Juliana Madzia (10th) in the Top 10 with Lianne Masquelier (11th), Grace O'Donnell (16th), Emma Hensley (18th) and Hannah Markel (19th) all finishing in the Top 20 of the 5,000m race.

// PREVIOUS MEET • QUEEN CITY INVITE
Two weeks ago, the Bearcats raced at the 38th Queen City Invitational in Highland Heights, Ky., where the men placed second as a team and the women third as both sides saw two of their runners finish among the Top 10 individually. On the women's side, newcomer Ellie Leather ran 18:04.7 to finish fifth overall and Hannah Markel was sixth in 18:05.3. Maddie Walker, a freshman, just missed the Top 10, placing 11th overall in 18:13.2. For the men, Ryan Guenthner was the top UC finisher as he crossed the line in 15:26.0 to take ninth overall while rookie Tyler Wirth was 10th in 15:26.1.

// TOP 10
Both women that placed in the Top 10 have been there before in their careers as Leather made her third appearance and Markel her second. Leather twice placed in the Top 5 last year while running for Fresno State, including third and fourth-place showings for the Bulldogs. Markel tallied her second career Top 10 placement after finishing sixth at the same meet one year ago. On the men's side, both Bearcats posted their first career Top 10 collegiate finish with Wirth grabbing his in his collegiate debut. Guenthner's Top 10 betters his previous high of 13th place that he posted in 2017 at the Butler Opener.

// IMPROVED TIMES
Four runners at the QCI posted personal-best times with two each coming from the men and the women. Leading the way was Leather, who knocked 25.0 seconds off her best, lowering her PR to 18:04.7 over 5,000m from 18:29.7 that she ran last year at the Fresno XC Invitational. Also for the women, freshman Anna Evans dropped her PR by 6.2 seconds after running 20:10.8. On the men's side, Guenthner had the biggest improvement as he lowered his time to 15:26.0 from 15:39.9, a drop of 13.9 seconds. Ryan Pehlman was the final PR runner as he lowered his best by 7.0 seconds with a time of 15:40.7.

// DEBUTS
Nine runners made their Bearcats debuts at the QCI, including eight freshmen and one junior transfer. On the women's side, six newcomers wore the black and red of UC for the first time, including Ellie Leather, a junior transfer from Fresno State. The remaining five newcomers were all freshmen and included Katie Engle, Anna Evans, Carmela Hennings, Olivia Tyre and Maddie Walker. On the men's side, the trio of newcomers all were rookies and included Matt Hoak, Ryan Pehlman and Tyler Wirth.

PREVIOUSLY NOTED
// SCHEDULE SCOUTING
The 2019 schedule features seven races for the women and six for the men with two each being in the postseason and a chance for one additional meet. Both teams will compete in the Queen City Invitational this week with only the women competing in the Friendship Invitational in Cedarville, Ohio, in two weeks. From there, the Bearcats both will travel to the AAC Preview in Memphis (Sept. 21), the Live in Lou XC Classic in Louisville (Oct. 5) and NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. (Oct. 19) to close out the regular season. The championship portion of the year gets underway with the AAC Championships in Memphis November 1 and will be followed by the NCAA Great Lakes Region Championships November 15 in Madison, Wis. Those that qualify, either individually or as a team, would advance to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., November 23.

// NEW MEN
This year's newcomers on the men's side include true freshmen Matt Hoak (Mason, Ohio), Ryan Pehlman (Indianapolis) and Tyler Wirth (Hawley, Pa.) and Jonathan Harley (Granger, Ind.), a junior that ran the past two years with the UC Running Club. Additionally, redshirt freshman Jase Headings will be suiting up for the Bearcats in 2019.

// NEW WOMEN
The women, with a roster of 16 individuals, will see more than half as new additions in 2019. The six true freshmen set to race for UC this year include Jen Cooper (Maineville, Ohio), Katie Engle (Chagrin Falls, Ohio), Anna Evans (Mentor, Ohio), Carmela Henning (Medina, Ohio), Olivia Tyre (Troy, Ohio) and Maddie Walker (Batavia, Ohio). Additionally, both Leah Maschino and Rylee Penn will be coming off redshirt seasons this year and will be joined by junior transfter Ellie Leather, who raced at Fresno State the past two years.

// NEW NAME
Over the summer, the former Lara Crofford was wed and is back to coach once again, this time as Lara Rogers. The former standout distance runner at Nebraska and Shippensburg is entering her fifth season working with the UC women's cross country and mid-distance/distance runners on the track.

// NEXT TIME OUT
Next week, both Bearcats teams will be back in action as they will travel to Memphis, Tenn., to compete in the Rhodes College Invitational on Saturday, September 21. The men will run an 8,000m course starting at 8:30 a.m. CT (9:30 a.m. ET) while the women will race 6,000m starting at 9:15 a.m. CT (10:15 a.m. ET). The course at Shelby Farms Park will be the same utilized for the 2019 AAC Championships coming later in the season.