The Elizabethtown College cross country teams showed they are a force to be reckoned with in the Landmark Conference. Both the men’s and women’s team took titles home for the Blue Jays in Towson, Md. this weekend. Both teams also were individual Landmark Conference Champions.
Senior Dan Gresh won for the men’s team while senior Amelia Tearnan won for the women’s. This is the first time since 2011 that both the men’s and women’s team had a first-place finisher at this race. This Landmark Conference win is also the eighth consecutive conference win for the women’s team. Etown braved the cold and rain on this difficult course and came out on top.
The men’s team dominated the race, beating the second-place team by 29 points. Etown finished with a total of 32 points while second place Susquehanna University had 61. Gresh ran the race 26:22.77 to take the individual conference champion spot. This is the first time an Etown student has won since 2011. Elizabethtown had more top runners; junior Ryan Conway took fifth place while junior Sam Cooper finished in seventh. Sophomores Keegan McDonough and Jon Anderson helped seal the deal by taking home the ninth and 10th spots in the race. Etown’s top five runners all scored in the top ten of the race. Senior Zach Trama, sophomore Andrew Lesko, junior Adam Harriger and sophomore Keagan Flagg kept Etown on top by scoring 11th, 12th, 15th and 17th respectively.
The women’s team also did not disappoint this weekend. This makes eight consecutive conference wins for Etown’s women’s cross country team. The women’s team was only three points from having a perfect score. Second-place Susquehanna finished with 57 points. At this race, Tearnan took home the individual conference champion position by running a 23:04.2 in the 6,000-meter race. The second- and third-place spots were also filled by Etown runners. Fifth-year OT major Amanda Kerno finished in second with a time of 23:09.0 and junior Lydia Dearie in third with a time of 23.16. Like the men’s team, the top five Etown runners all scored in the top ten of the race. Fifth-year OT major Megan Tursi took the fifth-place position while sophomore Casey Quinto crossed into the seventh-place position. All of these runners did well, only being separated by a mere 36 seconds. First-year Maria Anderson also ran well, taking eighth place. Sophomores Liz Wedekind and Alexis Groce took 16th and 20th, respectively, as well.
Coach Brian Falk was very pleased with the results of the teams at this conference. “The course ended in an unusual spot for college races, so I was watching the ending from the grandstands,” said Falk. “But from what I could see, everyone was hugging and really happy about their performance. They knew they did well.”
One memorable moment Falk talked about was at the three-mile mark during the men’s race. He said he saw seven boys run by in top spots. He knew that if they continued at that pace, they would take home the top spots.
Both teams did outstanding at this race, but now it is time to really train. Both the teams will have a two-week break until their next race. On Saturday, Nov. 15, they will be headed to the NCAA Division III Regional meet in Newville, Pa. If they qualify at Regionals, they will then be headed to Mason, Ohio to compete in the Championships the following weekend. With these past performances, though, Etown will be ready to run and place well at Regionals in the coming weeks. Falk said the team will take a few days to rest their legs after competing so well this past weekend. After that, the team will be back in their “regular routine” of training.
Both teams have worked hard this year to produce the best results possible. Each meet, the team improves a little more, and this meet really proved that. Etown runners dominated the Landmark Conference this weekend and plan on keeping the momentum going for Regionals in two weeks. Both teams are expected to perform well at regionals and will hopefully return home with another victory. Until then, both teams are going to train hard and prepare for what could be their last race of the season.
