The Emory men’s and women’s cross-country teams both had very successful performances on Friday at McAlpine Creek Park for the Charlotte Invitational in North Carolina, against the highest level of competition.

The No. 26- ranked women’s team posted 101 points, finishing in fourth place behind Division I teams Davidson College (N.C.) (44 points), University of North Carolina at Charlotte (N.C.) (48 points) and the College of Charleston (S.C.) (72 points).

Senior Elise Viox put up the best time in the team’s 6K race at 22:56 that was good for 11th place out of 72 entries. Sophomore Gabrielle Stravach finished 18th overall, second for Emory, with a time of 23:19.

Junior Mia Eisenhandler finished 21st, third for Emory, with a time of 23:29, and sophomore Megan Waples, fourth for Emory, produced her personal best with a 23:32 finish that placed her 24th. Sophomore Grace Pixler finished Emory’s scoring with a time of 23:34, good enough for 27th place in the race and the fifth Emory women’s runner to finish the race, and the final scorer.

The No. 32-ranked men’s team finished as the runner up out of the 11 teams in competition, scoring 56 points. First-place University of North Carolina at Charlotte put up 27 points, while SCAD Savannah finished third with 83 points. Milligan College (Tenn.) earned 124 points to reach fourth place and the College of Charleston came in fifth with 125 points.

Senior Lukas Mees beat out his previous personal best that was set in the team’s previous competition on Sept. 12 at the Furman Classic with a 25:25 8K time, beating the entire field of 73 runners. Junior Grant Murphy finished in eighth place, second for Emory, with a time of 26:03; sophomore Michael Sisario finished 13th overall, third for Emory, with a time of 26:20. Junior Jake Schlessinger finished 20th overall, fourth for Emory, with a time of 26:43, and freshman Bennett Shaw finished 21st overall, fifth for Emory, with a time of 26:46. Both Sisario and Schlessinger finished with their personal-bests at Emory during this competition’s 8K race.

“Everyone is doing a great job in putting in the work and effort to reach our team’s goals,” Murphy said. “It’s just an issue of competing better. We’ve set our goals pretty high this year so if we want to reach them we’re going to have to improve.”

Murphy and the rest of the men’s and women’s cross country team will be back in action this Saturday at the JSU Foothills Invitational in Oxford, Alabama.

 

 

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Avery Yang is a College sophomore from Los Angeles, California, by way of New York City.