The Emory women’s cross country team took home first place and the men runner-up honors at the Furman Classic on Saturday morning.

The women's side, ranked 33rd nationally in Division III, topped the 18-team field in the Division II, III and NAIA competition with 50 points.  Mount Olive was runner-up with 68 points while Queens College (NC) took home third place with 127 points.  Junior Tamara Surtees took advantage of the favorable running conditions at the Furman Golf Course and turned a personal-best 6k time of 22:07 that was good for second place overall out of 137 entries.  Junior Marissa Gogniat also clocked a personal-best effort with a performance of 22:41 that ranked eighth in the field.  Junior Elise Viox was the third Emory runner to cross the finish line and 10^th overall with her showing of 23:22 also establishing a personal best.  A pair of freshmen, Michelle Kagei and Kelsey Abbott rounded out the team’s scorers with the former finishing 15^th with a time of 23:44 and Abbott recoding a 22^nd-place outing with a mark of 24:05.

Emory registered 107 points in the D-II, III and NAIA men's race, second to Mount Olive's top mark of 107 points.  Lynchburg College and Queens shared third-place honors with 114 points while Berry College rounded out the top five out of 16 teams with 129 points.  Freshman Michael McBane paced the Emory contingent with an 8k time of 25:27 that was good for eighth place in the 142-runner field.  Freshman Michael Sisario was the squad’s No. 2 runner with a mark of 26:25, good for the No. 28 position while senior Craig Melissas posted a personal-best effort of 26:47 that placed him 35^th.  Closing out the team’s scorers were freshmen Austin Hunt (26:50, 37^th) and Brandon Cromer (27:01, 39^th).

The Eagles return to action on Sept. 28 when they compete at the Charlotte Cross Country Invitational.