The Emory women’s and men’s cross country teams traveled to Boston last weekend to run in the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships. Both teams returned to Atlanta in low spirits after finishing fifth out of eight teams.
“We’re obviously disappointed, particularly on the women’s side. It was our first poor performance of the year,” Head Coach John Curtin said. “We had been gradually building throughout the season. This week, we went off of the tracks.”
Senior Elise Viox paced all Eagles in the women’s 6K run with a time of 22:22, which was the eight fastest on the day. Fellow senior Aileen Rivell (22:51) and sophomore Hanna Saadegh-Vaziri (22:53) followed close behind.
“Elise, Aileen and Hanna all did exactly what we needed from them,” Curtin said. “They did a great job, particularly Hanna, who was shoved to the back at the beginning of the race, and then worked her way from 80th place to 20th place. It shows a lot of gumption and determination.”
Emory’s remaining scoring runners were sophomore Gabrielle Stravach and junior Mia Eisenhandler, clocking in at 23:00 and 23:09, respectively.
Senior Lukas Mees was the fastest of Emory’s runners in the men’s 8K event, and his time of 25:02 was the second fastest of the 76 contestants. Mees earned First Team All-UAA honors for his performance. He is the first Emory athlete to earn the First Team designation since 2009.
“Far and away the weekend’s highlight was Lukas Mees,” Curtin said. “He is in national caliber shape and is ready to be with the very best in the nation at nationals.”
The next Emory runner to cross the finish line was junior Michael Sisario, who ran a 25:43. The remaining of the Emory scorers were sophomore Max Brown, junior Michael McBane and freshman Bennett Shaw, who ran 25:55, 26:02 and 26:18, respectively.
“The guys went out a little too fast, and they paid for it late in the race,” Curtin said.
Nonetheless, Mees said he is confident in himself and his fellow Eagles going into the final stretch of the season.
“The goal is to improve our race plan execution across the board,” he said. “The team has the fitness to qualify for nationals and perform well there, we just need to put it in action.”
The NCAA South/Southeast Regional Championships will take place on Nov. 14 in Kernstown, Va., and in order to qualify for the NCAA Division III National Championships, the Eagles will have to place in the top two..
