Knoch grad Ethan Wymer aims to build toward another strong finish for Saint Vincent cross country

Every distance runner knows the value of a good finishing kick. Having some fuel left in the tank for a final push can be the difference in where a runner — and his or her team — ultimately finishes.

Ethan Wymer certainly knows how to finish strong. But for the Knoch grad who is in his senior year at Saint Vincent, it applies as much to his overall season as it does to any one particular race.

Flash back to April 2023, the Presidents’ Athletic Conference track and field championships. Wymer ran a personal best in the 10K (33 minutes, 6.31 seconds) to place third, then came back the next day with a PR in the 5K (15:46.34) for another podium finish (seventh).

That, coach Kevin Wanichko said, served as a springboard to Wymer’s 2023 cross country season. After running consistently with a pack of four or five teammates behind top runner Tim Patterson, Wymer busted out at the PAC championships last fall, placing seventh — second on the team to Patterson — to earn first-team all-conference accolades.

More importantly, it helped the Bearcats men win their ninth PAC title.

That earned him a spot at regionals, where he ran an 8K PR of 25:32 — the 11th-fastest in program history — and finished 26th.

“I’m going to say I think it was a surprise to a lot of people,” said Wanichko, in his ninth season leading the Bearcats. “Probably not as much to me. He’s someone who is super capable of that. If he’s in the right frame of mind and mindset, I think he has realized he is a very talented runner.”

But for a while, Wymer said he was not in the proper mindset. In fact, he admitted he lost his love of running.

That, he said, was the result of the covid-19 pandemic. When it hit in the spring of 2020, the pandemic, not surprisingly, threw a wrench into Wymer’s routine. His running started to fall by the wayside.

And when he entered Saint Vincent a year later, he also was a member of the swimming team. (Perhaps not surprisingly, he was a distance swimmer.) The load proved to be too much, and Wymer knew he had to make a decision so he chose to rededicate himself to running.

“I didn’t fall out of interest (with running), but things just weren’t going my way,” he said.

“Then outdoor (track) season really put me on the right track of, ‘This is what needs to happen.’ ”

His success in the 2023 cross country season didn’t carry over to the 2024 outdoor track and field season. But with the opening of the 2024 cross country season, Wymer is feeling confident about regaining his previous form.

And as for that finishing kick he has exhibited in seasons past, he said it’s just his MO. He likes to start slowly and build toward the big meets.

“I’m definitely starting to get my legs and endurance back in racing shape,” he said. “Coming off the summer of strong training with some high mileage, I’m in a good spot now to keep building. … That’s our big thing: get better every week.”

Added Wanichko: “As we get later in the year and the bar raises, he has been someone who has proven whenever it counts, he’s going to be there and ready to go.”

The bar can’t get much higher for Saint Vincent. Not only are the Bearcats the defending conference champions, they return all eight of their top runners from last season. That includes Patterson, a graduate student who qualified for the NCAA Division III championship meet in 2023 and is the undisputed frontrunner and leader of the program.

His years of college experience and extensive collection of awards make him an easy person to follow, Wymer said.

“He’s a huge driving force for everyone,” he said. “He’s a grad student now, so he’s been around us and my class for a while. Where he takes us for workouts, we will follow him.

“Having someone with so much talent and ability and speed and just the leadership that he shows, it’s so strong.”

Wymer understands he, too, will have a role in leading the team.

“Something my coach back in high school used to say: ‘There’s a leader in every locker,’ ” Wymer said. “So even if you don’t have that title, maybe not officially the captain of the team, everyone still looks up to you, especially if you’re one of the top three runners. Everyone is going to look at you and be like, that’s where we want to be.”

Wymer knows exactly where he wants to be. He wants to be in all-conference position at the end of the PAC championship, which will be run Nov. 2 at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds. He wants to be back in the regional meet and set another PR there and, hopefully, help the Bearcats achieve a program-best finish.

Saint Vincent has finished as high as fifth in the regional.

And, of course, he wants to go to the NCAA Division III meet.

He said watching Patterson qualify only heightened his desire to reach that goal.

Wymer recognizes the expectations for himself and the team are high, but that isn’t likely to deter him or his teammates from another strong finishing kick to the season.

“I haven’t felt a terrible amount of pressure,” he said. “Definitely more than last year. Coming back and defending a championship title is always going to have some pressure on you.

“But I feel like we’re composed, and we know what we have to do to execute. And we have to keep focusing on what we can do because we can’t change what everyone else is doing.”