FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
S-033-07-08
Thursday, October 25, 2007

Elizabethtown to Compete at Middle Atlantic Conference Cross Country Championships

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- The Elizabethtown College men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Delaware Valley College to compete in the annual Middle Atlantic Conference championships on Saturday afternoon.

Elizabethtown's men have captured eight consecutive MAC championships, while the women have finished second to Messiah College by just five points in each of the last two years after winning the 2004 team title.

The women’s squad will be led by senior Erin Fisher (McEwensville, PA/Warrior Run), who won the MAC individual championship last season and went on to take fifth at the NCAA Mideast Regional meet and 67th at the NCAA Division III Championships.

Fisher is coming off a victory in the 4,000 meters at the Elizabethtown Invitational last Saturday, and also has a 6,000-meter win at the Davis & Elkins Forest Festival Invitational earlier this year as well. Right behind her is junior Tiffany Kulp (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge), who was eighth at MACs last year and claimed victory on the MAC championships course at the Delaware Valley Invitational in September.

First year Kristen O’Brien (Westminster, MD/Winters Mill) will be Elizabethtown’s third runner who hopes to add some youth to the lineup. O’Brien has done very well this season, finishing 13th in the Dickinson Long/Short Invitational and 16th in the Forest Festival Invitational.

Sophomore Megan VanDenHengel (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) and junior Amanda Daws (Thorofare, NJ/West Deptford) are also expected to be among the Blue Jays' top five on Saturday. VanDenHengel has had solid showings in the Paul Short Run and Forest Festival Invitational; receiving 55th place and 23rd place respectively. Daws has shown great consistency over the season, running to 44th place at Dickinson and 24th place at Delaware Valley.

The women’s team is rounded out by senior Sarah Grove (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin East), first-year student Kristen Bowen (West Chester, PA/Downingtown West), sophomore Sarah Merusi (Montague, NJ/Port Jervis, NY), senior Meghan Ryder (Hatboro, PA/Hatboro-Horsham), sophomore Sarah Lanphier (York, PA/Central York), first-year student Alex Walmer (Hershey, PA/Hershey) and first-year student Teresa Beshore (New Cumberland, PA/Red Land).

"As a team, all season the women have been working on closing the time gap between our #4 and #5 runner.  Our goal is get it down to under 30 seconds as we head into the post-season competitions of conference, regionals, and, hopefully, nationals, said Straub. "This will be the final MAC cross country championship for seniors Fisher, Grove, and Ryder and I know they want to bookend their career with MAC titles."

The men’s team will be looking to extend their MAC championships streak to nine in a row this Saturday. Led by first year Chris Heisey (Middletown, PA/Middletown) and senior Ryan St. Clair (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg), the Blue Jays are confident they can do that.

Heisey has run well in his first season, with a solid showing of 12th place at the Delaware Valley Invitational in early September. St. Clair ran very well at the Forest Festival Invitational where he placed eighth.

Sophomore Myles Lund (Berwyn, PA/Conestoga) has fit in as the squad's number-three runner, with a best finish this season of 23rd place at the Delaware Valley Invitational. Following Lund in the fourth spot will be junior Dylan Rulander (Russell, PA/Eisenhower), whose 16th place in the Forest Festival Invitational was the bright spot of his season.

Rounding out the top five for the championship meet will be junior Scott Derkacz (Huguenot, NY/Port Jervis). The best finish of the year for Derkacz was a ninth place showing in the Forest Festival Invitational.

Rounding out the runners for the Blue Jays this Saturday will be junior Jeremy Matula (Bath, PA/Northampton), senior Drew Graybeal (Woodbine, MD/Glenelg), junior Evan Metz (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks East), first-year student Rich Greco (Holmdel, NJ/Holmdel), first-year student Matt Myers (Pennsburg, PA/Upper Perkiomen), junior James Munnelly (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks East) and first-year student Adam Derkacz (Huguenot, NY/Port Jervis).

"Winning the conference title eight years in a row has been an amazing accomplishment," said Straub. "I'm real proud of our consistency over the years. I'm confident our men will go out and lay it all on the line Saturday--giving their very best mental and physical effort.  We plan on fighting for it the entire race and may the best team win."

Each team is permitted 12 runners at the MAC championship meet, with the top five finishers scoring points for their respective teams. Regardless of their finish on Saturday, the Blue Jay men and women will compete at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional meet at Lehigh University on Saturday, Nov. 10.

Mike Behounek '11 contributed to this story