Alexander Asics Women's Results
The Emory cross country teams had an action filled Saturday as they competed in both the Louisville Sports Commission Cross Country Classic and the Alexander Asics Invitational. The men, ranked 16th in the nation according to the U.S. Track & field and Cross Country Coaches Association Poll, placed third in Louisville and sixth at Alexander while the 21st ranked women’s team finished fourth at Louisville and 12th at Alexander.
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. No. 5 MIT won the Men’s Silver 8k with a score of 46 and handily beat out second place finisher No. 9 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps who finished with 135 points. The Eagles finished in third with a score of 137 points ahead of No. 6 North Central (ILL.) (167 points), No. 11 Johns Hopkins (184 points and No. 14 UW-La Crosse (165 points). Senior Spencer Moore paced the Eagles with a time of 24:52.4 which put him at 14th out of 341 runners. Finishing just behind Moore was Senior Brett Lucas (24:56.9) who took 18th place. Recording a 25:17.7, senior John Cox came in 29th and was closely trailed by freshman David Evans (25:22.0) who finished three spots behind him in 32nd. Junior Andrew Pahnke (25:35.6) found himself in 45th and was followed by junior Justin Pecore (25:50.5) in 62nd. Closing out scoring for the Eagles was sophomore Scott Masterson (26:00.2) claiming 71st place.
The Women’s silver 6k race was won by No. 4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (43 points), while No. 14 UW-La Crosse (70 points) finished second and No. 16 Calvin (153 points) finished third. The Eagles finished just behind Calvin with 170 points, good four fourth place out of 37 teams. Emory finished ahead of No. 7 MIT (172 points), No. 28 UC Santa Cruz (333 points) and No. 34 Lynchburg (204 points). Junior Annika Urban had yet another impressive race with a time of 21:49.1 to finish in second place out of 278 runners. Freshman Liesl Scherrer (23:08.7) had another second place finish for the Eagles and ended up in 31st place overall. Recording a 23:32.6, senior Bella Racette came in 43rd and was closely trailed by freshman Milan Cambon (23:34.5) who finished two spots behind in 45th. Freshman Ellie Long (23:47.6) found himself in 59th and was followed by Junior Lauren Anshen (24:09.3).
Across multiple state lines the rest of the Emory men’s and women’s cross country teams were competing in the Alexander Asics Invitational in Fairburn, Georgia. Competing against mostly Division I opponents the men’s team finished in sixth out of 22 teams and the women finished in 12th out of 25 teams. Augusta finished in first for the men while Samford claimed first place in the women’s division with four runners finishing in the top ten. For the men, senior Jacob Hedgepeth led the way with a time of 26:07.72 in the 8k and a 24th place finish out of 234 runners. A number of his teammates weren’t far behind as Tristan Olpin, Tony Di lorio, Jon Marcus, and Spencer Watry all finished with times between 26:15.07 and 26:35.48. For the women, sophomore Helena Kummings paced the team with a time of 19:41.86 in the 5k and a 59th place finish. Multiple of her teammates finished close behind with Grace Formichella, Savy Haushalter, Elle Haushalter and Eileen Laverty all finishing with times between 19:49.17 and 19:59.07.
The Emory cross country teams will split teams again on October 16th as they travel to Meadowbrook, Alabama for the UAB Classic and to Rome, Georgia for the Berry Invitational.