Schalick grad Sam Gerstenbacher, a Division 3 track and XC All-America at Elizabethtown, placed 8th out of more than 500 runners Saturday morning in the Men’s Open race at the Paul Short Invitational.
Gerstenbacher ran 24:39.8 over the historic 8,000-meter course at Lehigh University in Bethlehem (and partially in Lower Saucon Township).
Gerstenbacher, a post-grad, was only eight seconds short of his 8,000-meter PR of 24:30.0 on a much faster course at DREAM Park in Logan Township. He ran 24:54.1 on the same course in 2019 in his one previous race at Lehigh.
The Lehigh course was the site of the NCAA Championships in 1979 (won by Washington State’s Henry Rono) , 1983 (won by UTEP’s Zakarie Barie) and 1993 (won by Washington State’s Josephat Kapkory).
This was Gerstenbacher’s first race since Feb. 26, when he ran a PR 8:01.24 indoors in Boston.
Gerstenbacher ran 8:38.94 in the steeplechase in May of 2022 in New York, earning him a No. 36 U.S. ranking. That’s the fastest steeple ever run by a South Jersey native.
Rider senior Richie Castaneda from Camden Catholic placed 26th in 25:17.0 and former Cherokee runner Justin Kelly, now running for Shore Athletic Club, placed 51st in 25:42. Haddonfield grad George Andrus of Villanova, running unattatched, took 56th in 25:43.8. Cornell’s Brady Shute of Woodbury ran 26:09.6 and placed 88th.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 