Schalick graduate Samuel Gerstenbacher is on his way back to nationals!
Gerstenbacher, a senior at Elizabethtown University, placed third Saturday in the NCAA Division 3 Mideast Region XC Championships, earning an auto berth at nationals
Gerstenbacher covered the 8,000-meter course at Lehigh University’s lower campus in Bethlehem in 24:44, finishing behind only Pat Watson of Stevenson [24:24] and Jared Pangallozzi of Johns Hopkins [24:40].
The first seven finishers from schools that don’t earn a team berth at nationals [Carnegie Mellon and Johns Hopkins] advanced automatically.
Gerstenbacher was 42nd at Regionals as a freshman, 29th as a sophomore and 9th as a junior.
Last year, Gerstenbacher finished 83rd at XC nationals in Wisconsin. He’s competed at NCAA nationals twice in track, placing 17th and 12th the last two years in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Gerstenbacher will race next weekend at the NCAA Division 3 Championships at E.P. Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky. The men’s race is scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m. Saturday.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 