MANSFIELD, Pa. –  Gannon University's Cait O'Rourke (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) and Emma Steele (Ambridge, Pa./Eden Christian Academy) continued their impressive seasons at Saturday's 2022 PSAC Championships at Mansfield University, with both completing the 6K course in the top-30 for All-PSAC honors, making a bit of program history along the way. O'Rourke's time of 23:07.3 was good for 14^th place as the Golden Knights' highest finisher, earning her a spot on the All-PSAC First Team and becoming just the third Gannon runner ever to earn multiple All-PSAC honors in her career. Steele (23:25.8, 21^st place) claimed All-PSAC Second Team honors to become the program's first-ever three-time All-PSAC performer. The dynamic duo has finished as Gannon's top two runners in every race this season and both improved over last year's PSAC Championship finishes, where O'Rourke finished in 22^nd place and Steele in 27^th.
 
Other Golden Knights with improvements over last year's results included sophomore Elissa Scheel (Medina, Ohio/Highland), whose 51^st-place mark (in 24.32.8) bettered her 61^st place finish in 2021 and graduate student Lauryn Thompson (Portage, Mich./Hackett Catholic Prep) (71^st place in 25:13.7) who was seven spots better than her 78^th place mark at the 2021 championships. Junior Jeanne Peters (Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny Centennial) (111^th place, 26:32.2) also made a marked improvement, jumping 30 spots up from her 2021 finish of 141^st.
 
The only other Golden Knight in the top-100 was junior Sarah Mruk (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca West), with an 88^th-place finish in 25:40.3.
 
Gannon as a team finished 10^th of 16 total institutions at the event with 235 total points, just behind ninth-place Clarion (216 points.) Edinboro junior Kylie Anicic was the overall race winner with a time of 21:09.3 and her teammate Kimberly Goerss came home in second place (time of 22:06.8.) Slippery Rock's Marianne Abdalah (third place, 22:09.4) and a pair of Seton Hill runners (Hannah Smrcka and Darby Roth) rounded out the top five.
 
Edinboro also finished atop the team standings with 81 points, just ahead of second-place Seton Hill (87 points.) Those two teams joined Lock Haven (98, third place), Slippery Rock (123, fourth), and Kutztown (149) as the top five institutions.
 
Final results for all of Gannon's runners:

14^th– Cait O'Rourke (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) – 23:07.3
21^st – Emma Steele (Ambridge, Pa./Eden Christian Academy) – 23:25.8
51^st – Elissa Scheel (Medina, Ohio/Highland) – 24:32.8
71^st – Lauryn Thompson (Portage, Mich./Hackett Catholic Prep) – 25:13.7
88^th – Sarah Mruk (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca West) – 25:40.3
106^th – Taylor Friello (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) – 26:14.8
111^th – Jeanne Peters (Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny Centennial) – 26:23.2
113^th – Claire Livingston (Jamestown, Pa./Jamestown) – 26:26.6
114^th – Amy Poole (Walston, Pa./Punxsutawney Area) – 26:30.6
141^st – Kayla Giambrone (Russell, Pa./Warren Area) – 27:54.1
145^th – Maddie Petersen (Erie, Pa./McDowell) – 28:14.2
155^th – Julia Johnson (Titusville, Pa./Titusville) – 29:25.9
 
Final Team Standings (Points)
 
1 – Edinboro (81)
2 – Seton Hill (87)
3 – Lock Haven (98)
4 – Slippery Rock (123)
5 – Kutztown (149)
6 – California (Pa.) (160)
7 – Shippensburg (166)
8 – Bloomsburg (190)
9 – Clarion (216)
10 – Gannon (235)
11 – West Chester (284)
12 – Mansfield (289)
13 – Millersville (307)
14 – Indiana (Pa.) (426)
15 – Pitt-Johnstown (431)
16 – Mercyhurst (475)
17 – East Stroudsburg (483)
18 – Shepherd (590)
 
Next up on the schedule for the Golden Knights is the NCAA Atlantic Regional, hosted once again at Mansfield University, set for Saturday, Nov. 19.