The Emory men's and women's cross country team both posted fourth-place finishes at the 34th Annual University Athletic Association Championships on Saturday. The event was held at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester, NY.
The No. 9 ranked men’s team finished the competition in fourth place with 94 points. Finishing in first was No. 17 ranked Carnegie Mellon with 47 points, marking their second consecutive conference championship. Rounding out the podium was No. 13 ranked WashU (59 points) and No. 20 ranked Chicago (63 points). The Eagles improved upon their fifth place finish at the 2019 UAA Championships.
Senior Brett Lucas continued his career-defining season pacing the Eagles with a time of 26:02.4 in the 8k, good for 9th place overall. Senior Spencer Moore came in just behind Lucas finishing the race in 26:08.2 landing him in 11th place. Both Lucas and Moore earned Second Team All-UAA honors with their finishes.
Senior John Cox crossed the finish line in 18th place in a time of 26:22.8 and junior Andrew Pahnke came in 28th with a time of 26:39.8. Closing out scoring for the Eagles was sophomore Tristan Olpin (26:44.5) finishing in 32nd place.
Chicago’s Henry Myers finished first in the field of 78 runners with a time of 25:39.0.
The No. 18 ranked women’s team finished the meet in fourth with 119 points. For the seventh consecutive season No. 5 ranked WashU won the conference crown scoring 32 points. No. 7 ranked Chicago finished in second place registering 64 points while No. 17 ranked Carnegie Mellon finished in third recording 79 points. Just like the men, the women improved upon their fifth place finish at the 2019 UAA Championships.
Junior Annika Urban continued her record-setting season pacing the Eagles with a time of 22:35.0 good for 2nd place overall and it marked the best performance by an Emory runner at the UAA Championship since 2017. Her performance earned her All-UAA First Team honors.
Coming in second for the Eagles was freshman Liesl Scherrer recording a time of 23:51.3 placing her in 18th. Sophomore Helena Kummings had one of her best meets of the season coming in 35th place and registering a time of 24:24.0. Closing out scoring for the Eagles were graduate student Shannon Marsh (24:24.5) and senior Bella Racette (24:25.2) who along with Kummings finished back-to-back-to-back in 35th, 36th and 37th place.
Finishing in first was Chicago’s Claudia Harnett with a time of 22:28.7.
Both the men’s and women’s team will return to postseason action on November 13 for the NCAA South/Southeast Region Championships at Milliken Park in Converse, SC. This will be the second time this year both teams have competed at Milliken Park with the women having placed second and the men having placed first at the Converse Kickoff earlier this season.