The men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete for a conference title this Saturday at Carnegie Mellon’s Schenley Park in Pittsburgh. Fresh off the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble on Oct. 19, the Eagles will be competing against tough competition in the University Athletic Association (UAA) at the conference championships.

Notable competition at the meet Saturday includes a New York University (NYU) program that has a men’s team ranked seventh nationally and a women’s team ranked eighth. NYU demonstrated their talent at Emory’s last meet in Ohio by winning both the men’s and women’s competitions.

Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.), the reigning conference champions, also possess high rankings, standing at second nationally for their men’s squad and 10th for their women’s team. Eagles Head Coach John Curtin has a high level of respect for the rest of the UAA. “The UAA top to bottom is among the top two cross country conferences in the country,” Curtin said.

The men’s team enjoyed a strong showing in Ohio at their last meet by placing seventh out of 31 teams. The five runners who scored for the team are seniors Alex Fleischhacker and Eddie Mulder, juniors Tyler Cooke and Patrick Crews and freshman Michael McBane.

Fleischhacker was the top runner on the day for the Eagles, completing the eight-kilometer long course in just over 26 minutes, which was the 22nd fastest time out of 284 participants. He was also named the athlete of the week for his efforts.

Curtin said that Fleischhacker “really came into his own with his showing at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble.”

The women’s team earned a 15th place finish at the Oberlin meet behind the performance of five scoring runners of their own.

For the fourth time of the season, junior Tamara Surtees was the team’s fastest member, finishing the six-kilometer course in 22:28. That time was good enough to be the 25th fastest out of 284 competitors, and make Surtees the women’s cross country athlete of the week.

The other scorers for the women’s team at the Oberlin meet were senior Emily Caesar, junior Marissa Gogniat, freshman Michelle Kagei and sophomore Ashley Stumvoll.

Women’s team captain Meredith Lorch said the team’s goal for Saturday is to “be calm and confident on the line and then carry that composure throughout the race – especially on the grueling hills Schenley Park is known for.”

Lorch added that the conference meet is a measuring point for the teams before they compete in the regional competition. “Conferences should be a good tune-up before Regionals, where we’re looking to qualify for NCAA Nationals,” she said.

Both Lorch and Curtin are optimistic about the team achieving its goals as the season comes to an end.

– By Oliver Rockman 

Photo courtesy of Emory Athletics

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