Saints keep pace with four-year schools

For the second time this year, first-year Saint runner Georgia Glovatsky brought home first place honors, after capturing the 6K run crown with a time of 22:20.70 at the Lewis & Clark Invitational on Oct. 18.

Glovatsky and the MHCC women’s Cross-Country team took on 11 four-year colleges and were the lone community college unit in the race. The team finished in eighth place.

“That was a real big meet and Georgia finished No. 1 and the team is starting to gel,” said Saints head coach Jim Satterfield.

This was the women’s first 6K of the season (up from 5K) and according to Satterfield, they handled the challenge well.

Glovatsky was one of three runners to finish in the 22-minute range, out of 138 runners total.

Emily Trosino, a Mt. Hood sophomore Emily Trosino was the next top finisher for the Saints squad, at 28th.

Sophomore Brandon Raleigh, like Trosino a Reynolds High grad, helped pace the men,  finishing in 13th place out of 152 runners with a time of 26:02.70.

Not too shabby, since the Saints are gearing up to travel to Clackamas Community College in Oregon City on Saturday for the NWAC Southern Region Championships.

“Brandon beat some guys who he hadn’t beat before,” Satterfield said. “He beat a guy who won a bunch of NWAC championships.”

Satterfield said things are starting to click at the right time, though most of his Saints team and its region opponents are battling “sore legs and colds.

“No one has been super consistent,” Satterfield added. “It’s kind of anyone’s game in the (Southern Region Championships).”

Freshman Michael Francy finished not far behind Raleigh in 24th place. Francy had led the team in a couple of meets earlier in the season, but Satterfield likes the progression of Raleigh and his 1-2 punch heading into the men’s regional championship.

“If you look at who runs better most of the time?… Brandon runs better than anyone in practice but he had some sore legs there for a while and now he has fresh legs.”

After the Southern showdown, the Saints will travel to Battle Ground, Wash., to compete in the NWAC Championships, slated for Nov. 8 at Lewisville Park.

The last time Glovatsky toed the line on that Lewisville Park course, she won the NWAC Preview back on Sept. 27.

Glovatsky stands as the favorite to win both the Southern Region and NWAC championships.

“We’re going to go do our best with what we’ve got. That’s all we can do,” Satterfield said.