Joseph Westrick ’20 has become the most decorated runner in Gannon cross-country history.
Joseph Westrick ’20, didn’t come to Erie with his sights set on becoming the most decorated runner in Gannon crosscountry history. But in four years with the Golden Knights, Westrick, 21, has run off a string of firsts in program history to achieve just that.
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Atlantic Region championships, earning him a spot at the national meet for the second consecutive season. There, he became the first Gannon student-athlete in any sport to earn the prestigious By: David Rung, director of athletics media relations NCAA Elite 90 award, which goes to the top overall structure my time as well.” GPA in the championship field. His sophomore season, Westrick won Westrick won additional honors, including CoSIDA Academic AllAmerica laurels and two PSAC Top 10 awards, both of which recognize student-athletes who excel in both the classroom and their athletic arena.
Westrick, who recently graduated with an environmental engineering degree, earned the NCAA’s first conference championship as a senior in 2019 after qualifying as a junior. He also For Westrick, the work that went into became the first individual to win achieving low times and high grades a PSAC title and the conference went hand-in-hand. Champion Scholar award – given to the runner with the highest “I think that the two suit each other cumulative grade-point average at the well,” he said. “(Running) takes a championship meet – in the same lot of time, so that forces you to be season in the league’s history. diligent in how you organize your time. I don’t know if I would have Two weeks later, he became Gannon’s done this well in school if I didn’t first three-time all-region performer have something that forced me to with a fourth-place finish at the 24
GANNON MAGAZINE MAY 2020
individual titles at three of Gannon’s first four races of the year. A 17thplace finish in a large field at the Greater Louisville Classic ramped up the expectations, and he cruised to first-team finishes at the PSAC Championships (11th) and Atlantic Region Championships (19th). He started off his junior year with four straight top-three finishes, then ran the fastest 8k time of his career to finish 19th out of more than 300 runners at a preview race of the national championship course. That was followed up by a fourthplace finish at PSACs – then the best
