The Emory cross country teams had a busy Saturday, as they participated in both the Louisville Classic and the Jacksonville State University Foothills Invitational. The men, ranked 18th in the nation according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Poll, placed ninth in Louisville and third in the Foothills Invitational, while the 34th-ranked women's team finished in 10th-place at the Louisville Classic and were unscored at JSU since they only utilized three competitors. 

 

The Louisville Classic is one of the largest cross country meets in the country each year, and E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park served as the meeting place for some of the best programs in the nation. Top-ranked North Central College (Ill.) won the Men's Silver 8K, registering 85 points to edge runner-up Johns Hopkins (#9) by 31 points. Tyler Nault finished in first place for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse by posting a 24:19.27, which beat Rhodes College's Toler Freyaldenhoven by three seconds. Junior Jack Whetstone continued his string of strong performances, as he led his team in the Silver 8K with a time of 24:40.7 to finish ninth out of 276 runners. Recording a 25:01.3, sophomore Spencer Moore took 30th-place and junior John Cox followed in 54th-place. Junior Matt Dillon positioned himself to end in 65th-place. Junior Egan Kattenberg found himself in 79th-place and was closely trailed by sophomore Brett Lucas, who raced in 25:52.8 to finish six places behind. Sophmore Jon Marcus closed the scoring for the Eagles, claiming 121st-place. Head Coach Linh Nguyen deployed his runners en masse this weekend, allowing his athletes to race in multiple heats in Louisville, Kentucky. Sophomore Liam McGuire and freshman Joe Chamoun turned in efforts of 26:22.5 and 27:26.9 in the Blue 8K.

 

The Women's Silver affair, originally meant to be an 5K race, was scored according to the results through 3.9K, after an error led participants to run an incorrect route on the course. The seventh-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened up with an aggressive pace in the event and was awarded first-place after 3.9K. MIT beat Oberlin (#14) by 69 points to take the top spot. MIT's Katie Collins was declared the winner, since her time of 13:50.1 stood as the fastest through 3.9K. Kelly Brennan, of 27th-ranked Baldwin Wallace, was the runner up after she ran her portion in 13:55.5. Emory was paced by junior Suzie Martin and her effort of 14:11.7. She earned ninth-place out of 253 participants. Sophomore Bella Racette and freshman Leah Clark placed 50th and 53rd. Junior Abby Durfee and freshman Shana Fitzmaurice passed the 3.9K mark after 14:59.0, which was good enough for 94th and 95th. Sophomore Zoe Friedman and junior Ana Morris rounded out the scoring for Emory by finishing 110th and 131st. With 533 runners, the Women's Blue 5k featured unscored efforts from freshman Annika Urban, senior Heather Beathers, and senior Izzy Zesisner, who placed 91st, 169th, and 221st, respectively.

 

Meanwhile, a separate group of Eagles competed in the JSU Foothills Invitational in Oxford, Alabama. On the men's side, South Alabama claimed first-place as a team and had seven runners place inside the top ten. Jacob Hedgepeth turned in a 26:31.60 and received ninth-place, which was the best time for his team. A number of his teammates were not far behind as Andrew Pahnke, Sam Branson, Luke Maly, Tony Di Iorio, and Bobby Wilson all published times between 26:48 and 26:58. Wilson ran his 8K in 26:58 and that was enough for 24th-place. Alex Campbell ended the scoring for Emory and took 31st-place. For the women, junior Carrie McIntyre produced a 19:11.10 to finish in 17th-place out of 179 competitors in the 5K. Sophomore Eileen Laverty used a time of 20:54.10 to end up in 47th-place, while junior Michelle Ly crossed shortly after in 50th-place.

 

The Emory cross country team will not race again until Saturday, Oct. 19th, when they will visit nearby Berry College to participate in the Berry Invitational.