Welcome to the home of the eight-time Middle Atlantic Conference Champions, 1999-2006!

The men's cross country team won the Middle-Atlantic Conference title in 1965...34 years later in 1999...the men of ECXC won again.  And for eight-straight years the Blue Jays went on to defend that title, thus becoming the winningest sports team in Elizabethtown College history.

The Elizabethtown College men's cross country team won conference titles in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 before the streak finally came to an end in October, 2007.  For 41 years, Etown had only produced five All-MAC harriers.  Since 1999, Etown has produced an additional 30 All-MAC harriers and has had two MAC Cross Country Champions (Dave Berdan in 2001 and Dustin Scott in 2002, pictured at left).  A grand total of 60 All-Conference performances have been achieved over the past nine years with the entire top seven (varsity cross country team) achieving the honor in '99, '01, '02, '04, and '05 with the high water mark coming in '04 when nine Etown harriers finished in the top 20 at the MAC Championships!  In 2005, unranked Etown beat nationally-ranked Widener University by a single point at the MAC Cross Country Championships.  With victory secured, the men's cross country team became the winningest sports program in school history (men's soccer won conference championships from 1962-67)!

Etown's highest-ever finish at the NCAA Division III Championships was 14th in 2001 with other team finishes of 24th (1999) and 15th (2002 and 2004).  The 2002 men's cross country squad had the highest cumulative GPA (3.54) of any NCAA Division III men's cross country program in the United States.  Either the men's cross country team or an individual has represented Elizabethtown College at every NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship from 1999-2006.  Dustin Scott (14th in 2001) became Elizabethtown College's first-ever All-American in the sport of cross country with Steve Sanko (27th in 2004, pictured at right) and Jose Miranda (31st in 2004) becoming the second and third-ever men to achieve the honor a few years later.

Coach Christopher Straub serves at the Director of Cross Country and Track & Field at Elizabethtown College and is in his tenth year at ETown.  Training for distance and middle-distance runners is individualized with an emphasis on gradual and progressive aerobic development.  The team takes full advantage of the beautiful natural environment in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  The distance runners often run on the backcountry roads that traverse the woodlands and farms that surround The College.  They also frequently train on the many soft surfaces within a 20 minute drive of campus including the crushed limestone of the 20-mile long Conewago Rail-Trail and the 900m loop in Maytown's Fuhrman Park, the 30 miles of dirt trails around Mt. Gretna and alongside the Susquehanna River, and the rolling grass pathways of Nissley Vineyards and the Elizabethtown Fairgrounds.

Contact coach Straub at straubce@etown.edu