College Recap: Spiked Shoe Invitational

Faith DeMars paces Penn State to Spike Shoe Invitational victory over the University of Pittsburgh, Temple, and various out-of-state teams.

DeMars, the 2023 Big Ten 5k champion, took the individual win at Friday morning's Invitational, setting the Nittany Lions up for a 24-point victory. She cruised through the 6k course, winning in 20:50.3, besting 2nd place, Sophia Jacobs-Townsley (Syracuse), by 8.8 seconds. 

Not far off from the front runners were PSU's Florence Caron, finishing 3rd in 21:06.8, Madaline Ullom, finishing 4th in 21:11.3, and Sophia Toti, finishing 5th in 21:12.1. Makenna Krebs finished 11th in 21:40.3 to round out PSU's top five.

The University of Pittsburgh was the next top school from PA, finishing 3rd behind Syracuse. Winnie Incorvaia led the charge for the Panthers, placing 7th overall in 21:18.3. Winnie, a 2020 Garnet Valley graduate, ran a massive PR, beating her previous 6k best by over 35 seconds.

Sadie Carey-Tharp, Emily Brown, Camy Kiser, and Caroline Rusinski rounded out Pitt's top five, going 14-17-19-22.

Temple's Elsa Chan and Elvira Bredin cracked the top 25 at Friday's Invitational. Chan made her 6k debut in 21:40.8, finishing 12th overall, with Bredin not far off in 22:04.2, finishing 22nd.

Another story on the day comes from Claire Zubey, a redshirt freshman from Penn State, who finished 15th overall. If she had not been running unattached, Zubey would have been PSU's 5th runner on the day. It will be exciting to see what Coach Gondak and Coach Foster have in mind for the talented young runner; time will tell.

Men's 5.2 Mile Race 

Pitt's Luke Henseler, Jack Miller, PSU's Evan Dorenkamp, and Temple's Cole Frank mix things up with NCAA No.9 Syracuse (Rankings Via FloTrack).

There was no question that the Syracuse men were the favorites to win Friday's meet, but that didn't stop some of PA's top collegiate talent from throwing their hats in the ring.

Luke Henseler split Syracuse's four and five guys, taking 5th overall in 25:38, only 6.9 seconds off the leader, Perry Mackinnon (Syracuse). Henseler's teammate, Jack Miller, finished 10th in 25:49.0, playing a vital role for the Panthers in the team race for 2nd. 

Peyton Geehrer, Quintin Gatons, and Luke Miller contributed to Pitt's success going 15-17-18.

Evan Dorenkamp, a 2023 1500m All-American, showed off some range as the Nittany Lions frontman. Dorenkamp was 7th overall in 25:43.5 on his return to the grass.

Cole Frank's (Temple) performance can't be overlooked either. Frank ran an impressive 25:59.3 over the 5.2-mile distance to finish 12th on the day.

Brian DiCola is another individual to make note of after running 26:27.3 and finishing 25th overall. The redshirt freshman would have been Penn State's 6th runner had he not been unattached. Similar to his teammate Zubey, it will be interesting to see if Coach Gondak and Coach Foster continue developing DiCola or if they decide to pull his redshirt. 

Meet Results |Team Scores: