The men’s and women’s cross country teams participated in the Blue Jay Alumni Challenge on Saturday, Sept. 14. Elizabethtown welcomed back its graduates to take on the current Blue Jay cross country teams on their home turf by the solar fields across from campus.. While the men’s team lost their event, dropping to 1-1 on the season, the women’s team was successful and picked up their second win of the season to move to 2-0. 

The men’s event was dominated by the alumni team, as they’d sweep the top three spots to help steal the win from the Blue Jays 17-38. Senior Carson Wiley was the highest placing member of the men’s team, coming across the line in fourth place. The other notable finishers for the team included sophomore Derek Kendig who grabbed seventh, senior Nolan Pettit who managed an eighth place finish and junior Benjamin Ortiz Jaque and sophomore  Will Inglis who rounded out the top 10 in ninth and tenth respectively. The Jays will look to rebound next month, when they will race in the Paul Short Invitational on Oct. 5 in Bethlehem, hosted by Lehigh University. 

The women’s team dominated their race on Saturday with a 19-43 win over the alumni. It was another race dominated by fifth-year senior Kelty Oaster, who secured a third straight win, continuing her dominant start to the new season. She ran away from the competition, finishing almost an entire minute ahead of second place with a blazing time of 17 minutes and 43 seconds. While a member of the alumni team would take second place, the next four spots were all current Blue Jays. Sophomore Keely Fitzgerald earned herself a top three finish, senior Maureen Bosak and junior Gwen Young rounded out the top five with fourth and fifth place finishes and junior Isabell Anderson wasn’t far behind with a sixth place finish. With another terrific performance, they were able to run away with this one and will hope to ride the momentum into the Paul Short Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 5.