FULL RESULTS

MEADVILLE, Pa. - Senior Bobby Over led a contingent of six Gators in the top 10, as Allegheny captured the team title in its home invitational in dominant fashion.

Over, the defending North Coast Athletic Conference champion, turned in an impressive performance in an invitational that served as the 2013 NCAC preview meet, crossing the tape in the 8K in 25:48.6 in his first action of the 2013 campaign.  In all, the Gators produced four of the race's top five finishers, six of the top nine, and eight of the top 15 en-route to finishing with just 19 points.

"Obviously, any time you can drop a score like 19, that's exciting," said Gator head coach Brent Wilkerson.  "Our guys are pretty pumped up about their performance today.   When we set out to run the meed, we held our top guys back, and wanted them to work on the closing speed, and our guys were able to do that on a really hard course."

"I didn't think we would have anyone break 26 minutes," the coach continued," and Bobby was able to close in that last mile and get under by 12 seconds.  I know he's happy about where he's at right now, and he's going to have a lot of confidence going into the upcoming meets."

Sophomore Logan Steiner, who was crowned the 2012 NCAC Newcomer of the Year before going on to finish at the top freshman at the 2012 NCAA Championship, was just as strong as Over, taking second with a time of 26:03.6.

"Logan going after Bobby the way he did over the last mile or so, that's going to be great to watch," Wilkerson said.  "After just missing All-American by one spot last season, Logan is definitely ready to make that push to finish in the top 20 at nationals."

The Gators continued with their theme established at the season-opening effort at Case Western on Sept. 1 of finishing as a pack, as less than five places separated fourth-place finishers James Rynes (26:28.9) and fifth-place Jack Denison (26:33.0).  In all, the Gators' top finisher, Over, and seventh man, Tom DeAscentis, were separated by just 72 seconds.  In between, freshman Dan Cheung continued to impress early in his career, finishing seventh with a time of 26:53.1, while veteran Alex Simon clocked in at 27:06.1, good for ninth overall.

"We're almost within a one-minute span between our first and seventh guys," Wilkerson said, "and that is what you really need to advance from the region.   DeAscentis is killing it in his senior year.  This is his second straight race in our top seven.  Primarily a middle distance guy, I was worried how he would adjust to the longer distances, and he has been awesome.  Alex Simon also had a tremendous race.  He's really sharp right now, and looks to be in better shape now than he was at the end of last year."

Wilkerson was also impressed with another veteran, Evan Breitsch, who, in his first action of the year after recovering from injury, turned in a time of 28:30.9.

"This is his first time racing this year," Wilkerson said, "and coming off of an injury, he was able to get to 28:30.  He looked really good.  I held him back the first few miles, then he finished really strong.  I know he was happy to get in a full 8K today."

The Gators' score of 19 put them comfortably ahead of Oberlin, which totaled 66 points, just in front of Wittenberg's 69.  A total of 79 runners traversed the scenic course at Allegheny's Robertson Athletic Complex.

Allegheny will now return to action on October 5th, traveling to Bethlehem, Pa. to take part in the prestigious Paul Short Classic, hosted by Lehigh College.