While many Elizabethtown College students, families and alumni were enjoying the Homecoming parade and other festivities on Saturday, Oct. 16, the College’s cross country team was traveling to Gettysburg, Pa. to partake in the Gettysburg Invitational at Gettysburg College.
Both the men and women’s teams placed third overall, but the men’s team ran against 14 other schools and the women’s team ran against 13 other schools.
Mount St. Mary’s University and Messiah University placed first and second respectively before the men’s team.
“We went into the meet really wanting to compete with Messiah…they are really good regional competition this year and if we want to make the national meet we’re going to have to beat them in two or three weeks at the regional meet,” senior Adam Wolfe said. “It was a little disappointing to lose to them by only 11 points…but it is also encouraging that on a rough day we could keep it that close.”
The women were beaten by St. Francis University and Susquehanna University. However, they were able to finish before Messiah University, one of Etown’s biggest competitors.
Etown’s junior Nick Garrett came in second place overall with a time of 26:01,11 seconds slower than first place runner John Wang from Mount St. Mary’s. Senior Christian Schaaf finished second for Etown with a time of 27:14, followed by sophomore Brandon Baxter and first-year Daniel Myers who finished within two seconds of each other. Rounding off Etown’s top five in the 8k was Wolfe coming in 23rd overall.
“We were left wanting a little more…it wasn’t an overall great [meet] for us, but it was a learning experience. We took a few steps forward and we now know what we have to change,” Wolfe said.
Sophomore Kelty Oaster finished 15th overall but came in first place for Etown with a time of 24:33. Senior Hallie Weaver came in second with a time of 24:38 and junior Bridget Kennedy finished third with a time of 25:02. Finishing off the top five was junior Madison Webber in fourth place and senior Brooklyne Wiley in fifth place.
The team’s next meet is the Landmark Conference Championship scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 30. The meet is being held in Bethlehem, Pa. at Moravian University.
