The Emory women's country team claimed second place and the men's side fifth this morning at the NCAA South/Southeast Regional  Championships.  The meet was conducted at Nash Farm Battlefield in Hampton, Ga.

The Eagle women finished with 132 points and trailed only Trinity who topped the 26-team field with 39 points.  By virtue of their finishes, both Emory and Trinity earned automatic berths to the NCAA Championships next Saturday (Nov. 17) in Terre Haute, Ind.   Centre College posted a third-place finish with 142 points while Washington and Lee (151 pts.) and Bridgewater (176 pts.) rounded out the top five.    Sophomore Marissa Gogniat  paced the Emory effort by covering the 6K course in a time of 23:31, good for 18^th place overall in the 184-runner field.  Sophomore Hannah Moriarty was the next Eagle to cross the finish line with her performance of 23:38 placing her 22^nd in the competition.  Rounding out the team's scorers were freshman Aileen Rivell (30^th, 23:58), sophomore Tamara Surtees (33^rd, 24:02.1) and senior Calley Edwards (34^th, 24:02.5).  All five of the Emory scorers captured all-region honors.  Taking home first place in the women's event was Sophia Stone of Mary Baldwin with a time of 22:03.  Trinity's Vanessa Moreno was second at 22:12 while Tiger teammate Maddie Murphy was third (22:25).   Bridgewater College's Olivia Mills (22:31) and Kaylee Kubisiak (22:39) were fourth and fifth, respectively.

The men's side totaled 134 points, just five points out of third.  Lynchburg College took home the No. 1 spot with 48 points, topping the 23-team field, thanks to having its top four runners all finish among the top nine finishers overall.  Trinity University earned the other automatic bid to nationals with a runner-up score of 86 points.  Bridgewater held down the No. 3 spot with 129 points while Centre College claimed the No. 4 position with 131 points.   John Kieffer of Centre College crossed the finish line in first place out of 160 entries with an 8K time of 25:17.  Cody Stanton of Lynchburg came in second in the 160-runner field with a mark of 25:22. 

Freshman Lukas Mees was the No. 1 performer for the Emory men, registering a 14^th-place finish with a time of 26:30.  Junior Hank Ashforth was the No. 2 Eagle on the scoreboard with an effort of 26:56 that slotted him 25^th.   Rounding out the Emory scorers were junior Eddie Mulder (29^th, 26:57), sophomore Patrick Crews (33^rd, 27:00) and junior Alex Fleischhacker (37^th, 27:04).