The Elizabethtown College men and women’s cross country teams competed in the Princeton Invitational held at the West Windsor Fields on Saturday, Oct. 18.
The men’s team placed 8th overall with 258 points in the 8,000-meter race. Senior Dan Gresh, who has been a top runner for the Blue Jays this season, individually finished in 16th, marking his second consecutive top-20 finish. His time was 25:43. Junior Sam Cooper placed 49th overall, running 26:22.
Junior Adam Harriger, sophomore Keegan McDonough and sophomore Andrew Lesko were the other three Etown runners to score, finishing 123rd, 125th and 129th, respectively.
In addition to these results, Coach Brian Falk noted the success of first-year runner Tom Fitzgerald, who finished 163rd and clocked in at 27:45.
Etown was the fourth-best Division III team to compete in the open race at the meet. “Overall, I think that while it was not the absolute fastest effort that we’ve shown,” Cooper said. “It was a very gutsy race, and everyone on the team really put forth one of their best runs.” He also noted the faster pace of the race, as it was filled with runners from all divisions. “At the end of the day, we’re all athletes, and we all do similar training. Passing a Division I runner in a race is always a good feeling.”
The women’s team finished with 562 points in the 6,000-meter championship race, putting them in 19th place out of 35 teams and naming them the top Division III school in this race. Out of the 287 total runners, fifth-year Amanda Kerno was the top finisher for Etown with a time of 22:45. Senior Amelia Tearnan and fifth-year Megan Tursi were the next two Blue Jays to cross the line with a time of 23:26. Junior Lydia Dearie also scored for Etown in 126th place, and sophomore Brianna Earnshaw was the final scorer at 182nd.
The women’s team also competed in the women’s open race, comprised of 302 runners. Sophomore Amy Gessler was the top finisher for the Blue Jays, placing 113th and scoring 90 points. Senior Ashley Underkofler, first-year Kelsey Brady, sophomore Samantha Zarzaca and junior Gabrielle Yankelevich rounded out the top five for Etown.
Falk noted that many of Etown’s runners had their best race of the season at Princeton University, including Tursi, Earnshaw, sophomore Casey Quinto and first-year Maria Anderson. Dearie emphasized the success of the women’s team. “I think the race showed how strong we are as a team with depth. We train together seven days a week, and four of those days we are up at 6 a.m. getting in extra workouts before class. I think all the hard work is really paying off and our coach is preparing us to do great things at Landmarks, Regionals and hopefully Nationals,” she said.
The cross country teams are just a few weeks away from the Landmark Conference Championship Series in early November. “We’re looking forward to it,” Falk said, “It takes a long time to get there and everything you do is pointed to the end of the season. It’s like waiting two and a half months for Christmas Day and we’re excited the time is finally here.” Regarding the competition, Falk said that the teams are not expecting any surprises, as they will be up against teams that they have competed against all season. “We’re just going to go down there and give it our best shot,” he said.
Both teams have one final regular season meet, the Lebanon Valley JV Meet, on Friday, Oct. 24 at 4:30 p.m.
