An up-and-coming Emory men’s cross country team came through with some exceptional performances during the fall and in the process laid the foundation for a promising future.
First-year Head Coach Linh Nguyen saw his runners dial up five top-four finishes including first-place performances at the Berry Invitational and the NCAA South/Southeast Region Championships, the first time since 2015 that the Eagles had captured the No. 1 post in that competition. By virtue of its finish at Regionals, the Eagles landed an automatic bid to the NCAA D-III Championships for a seventh straight campaign. At the national meet, Emory turned in a 17th-place finish out of 32 teams, the program’s best showing since 2008.
Junior Jack Whetstone blossomed into a premier performer, becoming the first Eagle to earn All-America acclaim since 2009 when he placed 14th overall at the NCAA Championships. The team’s No. 1 runner in all seven of the races he took part in, Whetstone took home the top spot at the NCAA/ Southeast Championships, the first Emory runner since Lukas Mees in 2015 to accomplish that, resulting in him being named the Region’s Male Athlete of the Year.
Sophomore Spencer Moore made a significant impact on the team, scoring in six of his seven meets. The Eagles' No. 2 runner of five occasions, he registered a personal-best 8K mark of 25:01 at the Louisville Classic. Moore raced to all-region accolades after finishing fourth overall (second on team) out of 239 runners at the NCAA South/Southeast Championships with a time of 25:11.
Junior John Cox continued his upward rise in the program, scoring in six of the seven meets he competed in. The Louisville Colorado native brought home all-region acclaim after crossing the finishing seventh overall (third on the team) with a personal-best 8K time of 25:17 at the NCAA South/Southeast Championships. Cox was the squad's No. 2 finisher and 86th in the 280-runner field at the NCAA D-III Championships after posting a time of 25:22 which represented his second-fastest mark.
Brett Lucas wound up his second season in the program and scored in six of his seven competitions. He clocked a personal-best 8K time of 25:25 at the NCAA D-III Championships, with that performance ranking third among the Emory pack and 94th overall. He garnered all-region honors after his 11th-place finish at the NCAA South/Southeast Championships (25:27).
In addition, Nguyen was tabbed as the USTFCCCA as the South/Southeast Region Men's Coach of the Year.
2019 represented the final year for seniors Sam Branson, Alex Campbell, Andrew Kliewer and Bobby Wilson.
Honors and Awards
USTFCCCA All-American |
||||||||||||||
Jack Whetstone |
14th Place | Glenview, IL | ||||||||||||
All-South\Southeast Region |
||||||||||||||
Jack Whetstone | 1st place | Glenview, IL | ||||||||||||
Spencer Moore | 4th place | Rochester, MN | ||||||||||||
John Cox | 7th place | Louisville, CO | ||||||||||||
Brett Lucas | 11th place | Kildeer, IL | ||||||||||||
Egan Kattenberg | 18th place | Satellite Beach, FL | ||||||||||||
Matt Dillon | 25th place | Poughquag, NY | ||||||||||||
Jon Marcus | 28th place | Fairlawn, NJ | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
All-University Athletic Association |
||||||||||||||
Jack Whetstone |
2nd Team (8th place) | Glenview, IL | ||||||||||||
USTFCCCA All-Academic Team |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
UAA Runner of the Week |
||||||||||||||
Jack Whetstone |
Sept. 3, 2019 |
Glenview, IL |
||||||||||||
Jack Whetstone |
Sept. 23, 2019 |
Glenview, IL |
||||||||||||
Jack Whetstone |
Nov. 20, 2019 |
Glenview, IL |