The Emory University men's and women's cross country teams closed out the 2021 season on Saturday at the NCAA DIII National Championships. The meet was held at the E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.
The women who came into the race as the No. 20 ranked team, finished the race in 19th with a score of 493. Finishing in first place for the second consecutive year was No. 1 ranked Johns Hopkins who finished with a score of 130 narrowly edging out No. 2 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps who finished with 132 points. Rounding out the podium was No. 8 ranked SUNY Geneseo who finished the race with 168 points.
Junior Annika Urban saved her best for last, as she crossed the finish line in 12th place out of 293 runners with a time of 21:15.5. Urban, who just this past week was named the South/Southeast Regional Female Athlete of the Year, was named an All-American for her efforts in this meet. Her time on Saturday marked the third fastest time for any runner in program history and her 12th place finish is the second highest finish at the DIII National Championship in team history (Gabrielle Stravach finished in 10th place in the 2017 DIII National Championships).
Behind Urban, senior Isabella Racette set a personal record of her own, finishing the race in 22:24.4 good for 90th place. Freshman Liesel Scherrer had one of her best performances of the season finishing in 150th with a time of 22:45.6. Junior Lauren Anshen (23:06.4) and graduate student Shannon Marsh (23:11.4) each set personal records as they finished the race in 195th and 203rd, respectively. Also running for the Eagles were sophomore Helena Kummings (23:19.1) and freshman Ellie Long (23:55.1). Winning the race was Kassie Rosenbum, a junior from Loras, who registered a course record of 20:11.1.
The No. 18 ranked men's team finished in 23rd place out of 32 teams with a total of 593 points. Winning the National Championship was No. 3 ranked Pomona-Pitzer, who accumulated just 80 points for the race. No. 2 ranked MIT finished in second place (112 points) while No. 4 ranked Williams rounded out the podium (167 points).
For the men, this marked the first time all year that all seven runners finished the race in under 26:00 minutes in the 8k event. As was the case for most of the year, senior Brett Lucas paced the Eagles with a time of 25:00.2 which was good for 130th in the field of 294 runners. Finishing neck and neck were seniors Spencer Moore (25:06.4) and John Cox (25:07.8) who finished in 154th and 159th, respectively. In his first ever National Championship, freshman David Evans had an impressive race finishing in 162nd with a time of 25:09.6 marking a new personal record for him. Rounding out scoring for the Eagles was sophomore Tristan Olpin whose time of 25:32.3 was good for 200th. Also competing were juniors Andrew Pahnke (25:36.0) and Justin Pecore (25:49.6). Alex Phillip, a sophomore out of John Carroll, took home the gold as an individual completing the course in 23:27.6.