CENTER VALLEY, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College won its third consecutive Middle Atlantic Conference women's cross country championship on Saturday at DeSales University, scoring 56 points to edge Messiah College by four points for the team title.
Blue Jay senior
Megan VanDenHengel won the individual championship with a time of 23:31.47 over the 6,000-meter course, finishing 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Caitlin Dorgan of Delaware Valley College. It is the third time in the last four years that an Elizabethtown runner won the MAC championship, as Erin Fisher captured the title in both 2006 and 2007.
VanDenHengel was named MAC Runner of the Year for her performance in the championship meet, while
Taryn Shank took Rookie of the Year honors after finishing sixth overall with a time of 24:33.81. Blue Jay head coach
Brian Falk was honored as MAC Coach of the Year for the second straight year after all 12 of his runners finished in the top half of the field of 129 runners, including nine in the top 50.
Kathryn Howser finished 11th overall with a time of 25:41.04, followed by
Sarah Merusi in 12th place at 25:41.32.
Sarah Steinmetz was the fifth and final Blue Jay runner to score, finishing 28th overall in 26:17.68 to clinch the championship for Elizabethtown.
Teresa Beshore ran in 37th place at 26:39.70, with
Marquel Bowler taking 38th place in 26:41.35.
Jill Casey took 44th place in 27:06.95, and
Megan Patton came in 49th with a time of 27:19.25.
Elizabethtown and Messiah were the only teams to crack 100 points in the team standings, with Misericordia University finishing third with an even 100 points. Lebanon Valley College (128 points), Delaware Valley (147 points) and King's College (150 points) rounded out the top six among the 14 teams that scored at the meet.
Coach Straub's Summary:
Saturday was a very special day for ECXC! The Etown men and women had only won both conference championships on the same day once before--in 2004. No other school of the 15 that make up the Middle Atlantic Conference have won both MAC cross country titles in the same year. So it's very satisfying for our program to come away with the double win. It's not all taken for granted and we completely respect the increasing competitiveness of the MAC.
The circumstances were very different for both teams. The women, once again, faced a heavily-favored Messiah College team that was nationally-ranked much of the 2009 season. They were ranked 5th in the region in the most recent poll. Our women were, once again, not even ranked in the top 10 of the region despite having finished 4th out of 53 teams at the 2008 Mideast Regional Championships. Our women were the underdogs in 2008 as well and the story simply repeated itself in 2009.
We repeatedly have been able to put together great team performances when it matters most--championship time--and this year was no different. Last year, Amanda Daws '09 and
Teresa Beshore '11 ran amazing races at MACs to secure the victory. This year,
Sarah Merusi '10 and
Sarah Steinmetz '13 had amazing races and were the heroes. Of course, it takes five in our sport and
Megan VanDenHengel '10,
Taryn Shank '13, and
Kathryn Howser '12 all had outstanding days as well and performed up to our expectations. Megan's individual championship was incredibly meaningful as she joins a select group of only three other ECXC harriers to win the individual MAC crown. They were Dave Berdan '04 in 2001, Dustin Scott '03 in 2002, and Erin Fisher '08 in 2006 and 2007. It's a difficult feat to win that conference title in the sport of cross country. It means on that one day you were better than all 130 or so runners in conference. We have had five cross country All-Americans at Etown, but only four MAC Champions! Also, Taryn, Kathryn, and Sarah all earned All-MAC honors (top 20) for the first time in cross country. As a result, those three joined 22 other ECXC women who have also achieved the same honor since 1981.
On the other hand, although the men had not won since 2006, we had to be considered the favorites going into this year's championship. Both Messiah and DeSales have won since we last won in 2006. Both teams displayed throughout the regular season that they were capable of winning if we didn't perform up to our potential. But our men are extremely confident in what we're doing now in practice and competition. I believe we have brought our program back to national-caliber level we sustained from 1999-2005. Yet only our lone senior co-captain, Myles Lund '10, had been on a MAC Championship cross country team before Saturday! Despite our 10-year history and tradition of winning MAC titles in men's cross country this is a new experience for the current squad.
The men competed very well Saturday. They ran a pretty poised race despite the circumstances of having never won a conference championship in cross country before (minus Myles). Messiah really pushed us through their #3 man, but lacked the depth needed to repeat from their first-ever MAC championship in 2008. We put our scorers in the top 11 of the field winning by a comfortable margin of 19 points. Our top 7 finished amongst the top 14 finishers which shows our depth. However, there is room for improvement going forward as we face tougher competition at regionals, and hopefully, nationals. Our 1-5 spread was 1:06, I believe, and we certainly want to bring that down closer to :50. Our other captain, junior Chris Heisey, is coming off the flu and, in hindsight, was a bit too aggressive early on. He finished 13th overall and our #6 man at MACs, but we know he can run with our top three when at full strength. Evan DeArmitt '12 and Russ Speiden '12 both earned All-MAC honors for the first time in cross country. As a result they became members #41 and #42 of the All-MAC club. There are now 42 Elizabethtown College men who have earned All-MAC honors since the program's inception in 1956.
It was a historic day for our program and Coach Falk and I felt both teams did an outstanding job of honoring those who came before them by putting forth great efforts. The women have now won MAC titles in 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2009 and are tied with our men's outdoor track & field team for the longest current win streak. The men won their 10th in school history having won in 1965, 1999-2006. The 2009 men's title is validation of year's of hard work trying to climb our way back to the top after some years of great adversity. We're excited and greatly looking forward to the Mideast Regional Championships on Saturday, November 14th!