Expectations rose for the cross country team after last week's strong performance at the Sewanee Invitational (Tenn.), and both the Emory men and women rose to the challenge, continuing their strong seasons last Saturday at the Furman Invitational (S.C.).
"The conditions for the race were amazing," said Head Coach John Curtin. "I can't recall a better day to race this early in the season than we had Saturday. It was cool with very low humidity, and the course was run on very fast golf course fairways. I think the conditions played a major role in the very fast times as well." The women and men performed very well at Furman, running along with Division 1 teams.
The women, currently ranked No. 33 nationally in Division III, came in first out of an 18-team field, scoring 50 points.
Leading their strong outing was junior Tamara Surtees, who ran a personal-best 6K of 22:07 while coming in second place out of 137 runners. Junior Marissa Gogniat also performed tremendously placing 2nd among the eagles (8th overall). Elise Viox placed third among the Eagles and came 10th overall.
In fact, almost everybody on the women's team ran their personal best time. Curtin was very impressed with the women, especially with Kelsey Abbott.
"She has probably improved the most from her high school performances and stepped up and was our fifth scorer today," said Curtin. He stressed that if the women continue their strong performances they could be a nationally-qualifying team.
The men also performed very well, coming in second with 107 points, even with some of their veterans sitting out. Curtin was very impressed with the freshmen class as a whole, singling out freshman Michael McBane. McBane led the Eagles in the 8K run with a time of 25:27. He placed eighth overall in the 142-runner field.
McBane was proud of his team's performance. "Overall, as a team, we ran amazingly well," he said. "He didn't bring some of our top boys, but anyone of them could run as fast or faster than that."
Coming in second out of the Emory men was freshman Michael Sisario, running 26:25 and coming in 28th overall. It should also be noted that senior Craig Melissas ran a personal best 26:47 placing 35th overall.
The Eagles will look to continue their strong start this season Sept. 28 at the Charlotte Cross Country Invitational (N.C.).
McBane said to expect big things from the Eagles going forward.
"We are excited and are running for a purpose this year," he said. "We want to win."
– By Michael Scheck
