Austin Pondel, a member of the men’s cross country team, is the Edinboro Men’s Athlete of the Week for the week of October 16-22. The redshirt senior won the individual title at the PSAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday at California(Pa.), helping Edinboro to a second place finish.
Pobdel is a transfer from Penn State in his first season as a Fighting Scot. A former standout at nearby Corry High School, he crossed the finish line first on the 8K course at George H. Roadman University Park with a time of 26:27.9, outdistancing the field of 172 runners.
Pondel won by 12 seconds over Shippensburg's Alexander Balla, who had a time of 26:39.4. He is Edinboro's first male individual champion since Scott Anderson in 2010.
Honorable mention goes to Walter Fletcher, a member of the football team who helped Edinboro to its first upset of a nationally-ranked team since 2013. Fletcher had 241 yards rushing with 4 TDs in the a 49-39 win over 17th-ranked Slippery Rock.
