The Elizabethtown College men’s and women’s cross country teams brought home a seventh (245 points) and third (131 points) place finish, respectively, at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional meet on Saturday, Nov. 15.
For the men, senior Dan Gresh delivered an impressive 18th finish overall among 343 runners. This finish would give him his first career All-Region honor. Gresh ran his second-best career 8k time of 25:39.9 to give him the 18th spot in the race. He became the 28th different runner to earn the All-Region recognition in the program’s history. His placement also means that this is the seventh straight year that the Blue Jays have had an athlete finish in the top 35.
Junior Sam Cooper emphasized how each runner would be essential to Etown’s success. “We’re obviously going to need a strong race from Dan Gresh and Zach Trama, but the bulk of our points are going to come from our 3rd, 4th and 5th runners,” he said. “Every member of this squad needs to have an incredible race for us to succeed.”
Many other Blue Jay runners showed impressive times at the meet. Junior Ryan Conway finished in 26:12.2, his personal-best 8k time, putting him at 46th place. Junior Sam Cooper was just three seconds behind Conway, finishing 53rd with a time of 26:15.3. Junior Zach Trama finished soon after, in 55th place with a time of 26:17.5.
Sophomore Keegan McDonough ran a 26:44.3 in his first Mideast Regional race to give a 73rd place finish. Sophomores Jon Anderson and Andrew Lesko finished 83rd and 99th, respectively. Anderson ran a 26:52.2 in his second regional meet. Lesko, for his first Mideast Regional meet, finished in 27:02.3. All the runners’ times put the Etown team in the top 100 overall.
Although the team was the best-placed Landmark Conference team, ahead of Susquehanna University, it was not enough to qualify them for the national meet. However, Gresh has the chance to qualify for the meet individually.
The Blue Jay women had three runners earn All-Region honors. Fifth-year Amanda Kerno ran her best 6,000-meter time of the season, finishing in 22:21.0, to earn her a 10th place finish overall. Last year, Kerno placed 31st. Fifth-year Megan Tursi also ran her season-best time at the meet with 22:30.1, earning her 16th place and her third All-Region honor.
Junior Lydia Dearie, in her first cross country season, ran 22:56.1 to finish 31st overall. “We all have been having outstanding seasons,” Dearie said. “In addition to our key runners, though, the whole team really will be there for us cheering us along, and we wouldn’t be where we are without every member.”
Senior Amelia Tearnan missed an All-Region honor by one place, finishing in 36th with a time of 23:09.8. First-year Maria Anderson, who is the Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year, finished just five seconds behind Tearnan for 38th place and a time of 23:14.0, which was also her personal-best time. Sophomore Casey Quinto took 51st in 23:25.0 and sophomore Liz Wedekind was 66th in 23:44.0.
Etown has finished third in the regional meet five times in the program’s history. The Blue Jays are currently ranked 17th in the country and are in a good place to make it to the national meet to take place in Mason, Ohio.
“I’m most excited for proving ourselves not only individually as great runners but as a team that can accomplish anything with hard work and dedication,” Dearie said. “This is my first ever cross country season, and I had no idea how far we would go, and now we just want to make it all the way!”
