Gateway grad Brady Sundin named PAC Newcomer of the Year for Saint Vincent cross country

Nov. 6—The Saint Vincent men's cross country team collected a pair of top-10 finishes and three in the top 20 to finish fourth at the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championships Oct. 29 on its home course near campus in Latrobe.

One of those top-10 finishes came from Gateway graduate Brady Sundin, who placed ninth overall in a field of 122 runners in a time of 26 minutes, 37 seconds.

"I felt all right with how I did," Sundin said.

"I really wanted to help the team win the meet, but we fell a little short."

He earned second-team All-PAC honors and also was named the 2022 PAC Newcomer of the Year.

"It's always nice to receive recognition like that, and I take in all those moments, but I think it was more of a team award because without my teammates pushing me every day and us working together, those awards and honors wouldn't be possible," Sundin said.

"But it is nice to see all my hard work pay off in that way."

Sundin's PAC Championships finish was nearly a minute faster than his time on the same course earlier in the season.

"It is good to see improvement like that," he said.

Sundin and his Bearcats teammates return to competition with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships on Saturday at Lock Haven with the hopes of advancing to the NCAA Division III Championships Nov. 19 in Lansing, Mich.

"It's everyone's goal to go faster and place well at regionals," he said.

"That course (at Lock Haven) is a lot flatter than the Saint Vincent course. I think I can run a lot better than the last time I was there. We're really excited to see what noise we can make. It should be a pretty fun time."

Saint Vincent cross country coach Kevin Wanichko said he wasn't surprised with the way Sundin broke out in his first collegiate season.

"He had a very good resume coming out of high school, and we felt pretty confident he could transition well," Wanichko said.

"You never know when you are looking at freshmen because you are going from a 5K race in high school to the 8K races in college. It is a challenge for a lot of guys coming in to adjust and up their performances. But Brady is used to the high mileage, and he showed that early on with some impressive runs in our early season schedule."

Sundin said he came into the season well prepared with many miles of training over the summer under the guidance of Wanichko and his staff.

"Sometimes I fall on the side of doing too much, so I made sure I wasn't overdoing it each day," he said.

"A good balance really helped."

Sundin captured PAC Men's Cross Country Rookie of the Week honors on two separate occasions.

The first came Sept. 12 after he finished as the top freshman at the Saint Vincent Invitational, placing 13th overall in the 128-runner field with a time of 27:33.87.

His performance helped the Saint Vincent men win the championship of the 15-team event by a 50-point margin over runner-up and conference foe Geneva College.

The second Rookie of the Week laurel Sept. 26 came on the heels of an 87th-place finish at the Lock Haven Invitational in a time of 26:50.

It was the fifth-fastest time by a Division III freshman in the 290-runner event.

"Brady is a worker, and he hammers these miles," Wanichko said. "It's just from preparation that he's not going to falter in a race. I will say he is not the biggest kicker or speed guy, but he is just raw strength and endurance. The longer the race, the better for him. I think he's better at the 8K than he was at the 5K. He ran a (personal best) on our course (Oct. 29), and our course is one of the hardest we'll run on all season. We're heading back to Lock Haven, and I wouldn't be surprised if he goes out and runs 30 seconds or so quicker. I wouldn't be surprised if he is in the 25s for regionals."

Sundin ran cross country four years at Gateway and was a two-year member of the Gators track and field team. He earned six letters across both sports.

He qualified for the PIAA Class 3A cross country championships last fall as a senior after a 26th-place finish at WPIALs at Cal (Pa.).

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 724-226-4665, mlove@triblive.com or via Twitter .