LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Gannon men's cross country team might have come up just short of a its team goal at the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional on Saturday, but the Golden Knights finished the season with a lot of positives. Consider this:

• Gannon moved up two spots in the standings from last year.
• The Golden Knights had an All-Atlantic Region runner.
• GU runners have a number of personal records.

Coach Rob Ahrens said his Gannon team, which entered ranked eighth in the region, had hoped to finish eighth or higher. The Knights, however, were content to finish 11th, which was two spots higher than their 13th of 2023.
 
Grad student Ely Personius (Buffalo, N.Y./Amherst Central) landed a spot on the All-Region team for the second straight year as he placed 23rd. Junior Luke Malena (Medina, Ohio/Cloverleaf) finished 31st, an improvement of 22 places over 2023, and Adam Kanterman (Milford, Pa./Delaware Valley) finished 84th, an improvement of 10 spots.
 
"As a group, the men fell short of their goal today, but we improved our regional finish by two places over last year," Ahrens said. "I think that shows the quality of this group in how they were able to demonstrate improvement even if we didn't have an A+ performance. Our returners, Ely, Luke, and Adam, used their experience and all finished with PRs.
 
"The depth in the region this year has improved a lot so to see their competitiveness rise to the level of the competition was exciting."
 
Personius, a team captain who has been a leader for Gannon, finished the 10K course in a time of 31:10.9, which topped his previous personal record by nine seconds. He had been aiming for a spot at National, but instead saw his outstanding Gannon career come to a close with a strong effort.
 
"I  want to recognize Ely in leading this team in his final cross country race as a Gannon Golden Knight," Ahrens said. "He has set the bar high and been an outstanding example for his teammates both on and off the course and will leave a legacy that will last within our program."
 
Malena, a junior, will be a veteran team leader last year. He finished in 31:26.5 at the regional after earning All-PSAC honors two weeks earlier at the PSAC Championships. His regional time was 1 minute, 8 seconds faster than his previous 10K personal record.
 

 
Kanterman crossed the finish line in 33:08.4, which was 38 seconds better than his previous PR.
 
Freshmen Bradyn Rusch (Valley View, Ohio/Cuyahoga Heights) (93rd, 33:22.0) and Robert Tang (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) (99th, 33:24.7) rounded out Gannon's top five.
 
Top three teams:
(21-team field)
1. Davis & Elkins 40
2. Shippensburg
3. Charleston (W.V.) 81
11. Gannon 312
 
Top three runners
(157-runner field)
1. Jan Thewes, Davis & Elkins 29:51.0
2. Garrett Quinan, Shippensburg 29:56.2
3. Franklin Kipchirchir, Virginia Union 30:00.7
 
Gannon runners
23. Ely Personius (Buffalo, N.Y./Amherst Central) 31:10.9
31. Luke Malena (Medina, Ohio/Cloverleaf) 31:26.5
84. Adam Kanterman (Milford, Pa./Delaware Valley) 33:08.4
93. Bradyn Rusch (Valley View, Ohio/Cuyahoga Heights) 33:22.0
99. Robert Tang (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) 33:24.7
116. Lauge Rasmussen (Virum, Denmark/Oregard Gynbasium) 34:03.9
132. Ethan Boots (Poland, Ohio/Boardman) 34:49.6