On Saturday, Oct. 30, the Elizabethtown College men’s cross country team traveled to Bethlehem, Pa. to participate in the Landmark Conference Championships.
The meet went well, however, the Blue Jays placed second to Moravian University’s Greyhounds in a tie breaker. Despite placing second, there were still plenty of highlights for the team.
One of those highlights is that junior Nick Garrett became the sixth individual champion for Etown . The Blue Jays finished with 50 points along with the Greyhounds and had three all-conference place finishers at the meet.
Garrett pulled away from the rest of the runners over the last stretch and ran to the individual championship for the Blue Jays, finishing as the only runner to break 26 minutes. Garrett’s winning time was 25 minutes, 37.7 seconds.
He joins alumni Dan Gresh ‘15, Zach Trama ‘15 and Samuel Gerstenbacher ‘20 as the fourth individual cross country champion for the College. Gresh was the individual cross country champion in 2014, followed by Trama in 2015 and Gerstenbacher from 2017 to 2019.
Senior Christian Schaaf, who spent time behind Susquehanna’s Jack Warhime, overcame the River Hawks’ top runner and took third place in 26:22.6. Warhime came in behind Schaaf at 26 minutes, 28.2 seconds.
Senior Colm Smith and sophomore Brandon Baxter made their way up the board by the conclusion of the race. Smith came through for Etown with a 14th-place finish while Baxter was right behind him in 15th. Smith’s time was 27 minutes and 06.9 seconds, while Baxter ran 27 minutes and 07.2 seconds.
Senior Adam Wolfe was the final scorer for the Jays. He was 17th at 27:12.1.
The Blue Jays and the Greyhounds tied with 50 points each. The tiebreaker breaks down the top 5 finishers for each team by head-to-head place finishes. While the Blue Jays’ top two finishers, 1st and 3rd, were better than Moravian’s, 7th and 8th, the Greyhounds next three runners (10th, 12th, 13th), finished ahead of Etown’s (14th, 15th, 17th), giving the Greyhounds the majority and the Landmark Conference crown.
The defeat snapped a conference winning streak of six straight for the Jays, who had won it each year since joining the conference.
As the conference’s individual champion, Garrett was also named the Performer of the Year. Schaaf made the All-Landmark First Team and Smith earned a spot on the All-Landmark Second Team.
The Blue Jays will prepare for the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional on Saturday, Nov. 13.
