The Emory men’s and women’s cross country teams both registered impressive performances on Saturday at the Furman Classic.

The No. 28-ranked women captured first-place honors out of 22 teams in the Division II, III and NAIA competition, finishing with 50 points.  Montevallo was runner-up with 57 points while Lee University ranked third at 82 points.  All of the Eagle scorers finished among the top 15 overall performers, led by senior Elise Viox who covered the 6K course in a personal-best time of 22:32, good for the No. 4 slot out of 206 entries.  Sophomore Gabrielle Stravach also came through with a personal-best effort, clocking a 22:45 that placed eighth.   Sophomore Abigail Hotaling crossed the finish line in the No. 11 spot with a mark of 23:05, which represented a personal best in the 6K.  Rounding out the squad’s scorers were junior Mia Eisenhandler (23:08, 12^th place) and sophomore Grace Pixler (23:21 (career best), 15^th place.)

The Emory men’s side was solid, finishing third out of 19 teams.  The Eagles recorded 102 points and trailed only No. 1 finisher Lee University (74 pts.) and Georgia College and State University (97 pts.).  Senior Lukas Mees led the men’s effort, registering a personal-best 8K time of 25:30 en route to a fifth-place finish.   Sophomore Max Brown was second on the team and 21^st in the field, racing to a personal-best mark of 26:24, while junior Michael McBane was close behind in 24^th position with a time of 26:33.02.  Rounding out the team’s scorers were freshman Bennett Shaw (25^th, 26:33.3) and junior Michael Sisario (28^th, 26:44).   When combining the results from the Division I race, Emory finished 10^th out of 31 programs with 311 points, with Mees ranking 33^rd overall out of 296 runners.

Both teams return to action on Friday, Sept.25, when they compete at the Charlotte Invitational.