Cross Country Update

The Eastern Cross Country teams have worked hard this fall to compete well in several meets.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with scoring in cross country, allow me to take a moment to explain. Basically, a race is comprised of individual runners from many different schools, representing their teams. When an individual crosses the finish line, their finishing place is marked on a score sheet. After the race, the scorekeeper adds the places of the first five finishers per team. For example, if individuals on a team finish in 1st, 4th, 5th, 13th, and 20th, the team’s score would equal 43. The team with the lowest score wins the meet. These specific scoring tactics may differ for specific meets, but you get the gist. With that in mind…

The first meet of the season took place on Sat., Sept. 5 at Lebanon Valley College. The Eagles Women’s Cross Country team placed 3rd in the meet while the Men’s team placed 4th. A week later, the teams ran in the Mustang Stampede at Stevenson University, both finishing in 3rd. In the women’s 6k race, freshman Kierra Zack led the Eagles, finishing in 15th with a time of 23:33. Also a freshman, Samantha Snyder finished in 22nd (2nd for the Eagles) with a personal best of 24:35. In the men’s 8k race, senior Aaron Reed finished first for the Eagles with a time of 28:37. Sophomore Clayton Bender finished second for the team with a time of 29:17.

The next meet took place on Sept. 26 at Dickinson College. Differing from other races, this meet includes two separate races for each team: a 8k and 4k for them men and a 6k and 4k for the women. At this Long/Short Invitational, the final score is totaled from the top three finishers from each team for each race. In the women’s 6k race, Zack once again finished first for the Eagles with a time of 23:44. Less than a minute later, senior Adrienne Borelli finished second for EU. In the 4k race, sophomore Taylor Smucker finished first, followed by senior Jenna Evangelista. In the men’s 8k, Reed placed first the the Eagles with a time of 28:09. and Bender placed second for EU with a time of 28:31. In the 4k, freshman Justin Nikles finished first, followed by sophomore Jon Thomas.

On Oct. 17, Eastern Eagles competed in the Rowan Interregional Border Battle at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. In the 6k race, Eastern Women finished in 18th with an average time of 23:55. In the men’s 8k race, the Eagles finished in 22nd with an average time of 27:57.

The Eagles will begin compete in post-season meets at the end of the month.