The men’s and women’s cross country teams travelled to Nash Farm Battlefield in Hampton, Ga. for the NCAA Regional Championships. As the host team, the Eagles were more than prepared for what they knew would be a very difficult course. In addition, the Eagles had a significant showing of support on Saturday morning, as the track and field team and numerous cross country alumni showed up to cheer them on.
The women’s team finished second in the 26 team field with a team total of 132 points. Trinity University (Texas) won the met with 33 points and Centre College (Ky.) came in third with 142 points. The Eagles’ second place finish earned them an automatic bid to the NCAA National Championship meet. All five of the Eagles’ scoring athletes earned All-Region honors.
Sophomore Marissa Gogniat led the Eagles with a standout performance, finishing 18th place overall. The remainder of the athletes contributing to the overall team score included sophomore Hannah Moriarty (22nd, 23:38), freshman Aileen Rivell (30th, 23:58), sophomore Tamara Surtees (33rd, 24:02.1) and senior Calley Edwards (34th, 24:02.5).
While an overall second place finish was disappointing for the Eagles, the women look to improve their performances on the national stage. With such a young team, this year’s National Championship meet will be a new experience for four out of the seven runners.
Although the men’s team came in ranked first in the region, it finished in fifth place, well out of qualifying for the championship meet. The atmosphere amongst the men were grim after the shock of realizing that they had not earned a berth to Nationals.
There were a number of factors that led to the Eagles’ heartbreaking finish, including mediocre performances from most of the team, a knee injury suffered by senior Stephen Ellwood and impressive performances from the rest of the field.
On a more positive note, Lukas Mees continued his stellar freshman season, placing 14th with a very respectable time of 26:30 and qualifying him for the National Championships. Mees was the first Eagle across the line in his first collegiate Regional Championships. He will join the women’s team in Terre Haute, Ind. this Saturday for Nationals.
“I am not happy at all that we are not going as a team, but I am glad I get to represent Emory at Nationals,” Mees said.
Although the men are disappointed at not being able to travel to Terre Haute, the team are focusing on training for the track and field season and looking to an incredibly strong recruiting class next year.
Head Coach John Curtin is glad that his athletes have one more opportunity to end this season on a positive note. Emory has had five different top runners in the seven meets run this season, indicating both a tremendous amount of depth on the team and a lack of consistency.
“We have had our ups and downs this season,” Curtin said. “I am still waiting for all of our girls to run to their potential on the same day. This is our chance to represent Emory amongst the best teams in the Nation.”
Gogniat is not intimated by the thought of racing in a highly competitive field.
“I am excited by the opportunity to compete with the most elite runners in Division III. We are better than the times we have been posting in races and this is our last chance to prove it on paper,” Gogniat said.
The top seven women and Mees will leave Thursday to travel to Terre Haute to compete in the NCAA Division III National Championships. Thirty-two teams and 56 individual qualifiers have been selected to participate in the each championship race. The men’s race is set to go off at 12 p.m., followed by the women’s race at 12:45 p.m.
– By Megan Hunter
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