Champions. Elizabethtown College’s men’s and women’s cross country teams were used to hearing that word to describe their teams as both captured the Middle Atlantic Conference championships over the weekend. Winning one championship is hard enough. However, the run that both teams have had has been remarkable, with the men winning their fourth consecutive crown while this championship marks the sixth in a row for the women.
The men had a more challenging route back to winning another conference title after losing last season’s top four runners, including three-time All-American Eric Reichert. The team placed five runners in the top ten. Juniors Matt Rever and Stephen Welsh finished in second and fourth respectively, sophomore Dan Gresh finished in fifth, senior Aaron Focht finished in seventh, and first-year Matt Shenk rounded out the top ten. All five runners earned all-conference first team honors while junior Ian Hamilton finished in 20th to obtain all-conference second team honors.
Focht knows that the team wasn’t a favorite for a repeat championship, but was proud of how the team responded. “We did really well. We didn’t go into the meet with the guarantee, as we didn’t really have past experience of matching up against them. However, anytime that your top five runners finish within 10 seconds of each other, you know you did very well,” Focht said.
Senior Jake Blanton said it has been a privilege to be a conference champion all four years at Etown. “It was special being here all four years as we have had great teams over the years. Outside of our team, nobody really gave us a chance to repeat as champions. With our underclassmen taking on bigger roles and our team staying healthy, we had a big task ahead to repeat as conference champions,” Blanton said.
As for the women, it was their depth that carried the team to a sixth consecutive crown. The team’s top seven runners finished in the top 20, while runner-up DeSales University only had four in the top 20. Junior Traci Tempone, last year’s individual champion, finished in second this year. Seniors Taryn Shank and Megan Patton finished in fourth and seventh place, respectively. Juniors Amanda Kerno and Eileen Cody finished in 11th and 13th respectively. Senior Sarah Steinmetz finished in 15th, sophomore Ameila Tearnan finished 16th, and first-year Rachel Carr finished in 17th.
Patton is proud of how the team performed. “Overall, our race at MACs went well. It’s always a team expectation to win and gear our training towards winning at MACs,” Patton said.
Head Coach Brian Falk took Coach of the Year for the men’s team, while DeSales University’s Gordon Hornig was the women’s Coach of the Year.
The teams’ focus now is directed toward their regional meet at Dickinson College in two weeks where they look to have better performances to qualify for the national championship meet at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Qualifying for the national meet this year will be unlike years past. Before, the top two teams in each region would get the automatic bid into the meet with the next teams getting the at-large bid based on strength in the region. This year, there is no limit to how many teams from each region can qualify for the national meet, which will benefit the teams due to their strong region. With the men’s and women’s teams ranked sixth and fifth respectively, they will need to perform well in order to make the national meet.
Focht knows the team definitely needs to have a better race than their conference meet to make it back to the national meet. “We need to all have even better performances at regionals than MACs, now that there is no cap as to how many teams from each region can qualify; we have a better chance to get in. We have had a chance to work out there so it’ll be a better chance for us to do well,” Focht said.
Patton knows that the meet will be challenging, but a strong finish will get the team in. “Our goal is to get third or fourth in order to get to nationals,” Patton said.