Fourteen Greyhounds Earn Cross Country Landmark All-Conference Honors; Smurla & Baumann Garner Major Awards

TOWSON, Md. --- The Moravian University cross country squads had a total of 14 runners earn 2025 Landmark All-Conference honors this past Saturday at the 2025 Landmark Conference Championships hosted by Drew University at Oak Ridge Park in Clark, N.J.

Senior Tara Smurla won the women's individual title and was selected as the Women's Performer of the Year while being joined on the All-Conference First Team senior Meghan Myers. Junior Kayla O'Neil, freshman Kate Veivia and senior Kierstyn Klingner made the All-Conference Second Team while freshman Kiley Amend earned a spot on the All-Conference Honorable Mention squad.

Graduate student Cole Frank, senior Bryan Kerchner and junior Gavin Hefferan all garnered spots on the men's Landmark All-Conference First Team with top seven finishes while junior Nate Moore, senior Joe Allegro and freshman Braeden Knotts earned sports on the All-Conference Second Team. Sophomores Riley Trigo and Grayson Kerzmann were on the All-Conference Honorable Mention.

Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Jesse Baumann and his assistants Jon D'Ottavio and Natalie Stabilito were honored as both the Landmark Conference Men's and Women's Coaching Staff of the Year after leading the Greyhounds to both titles, the first time since 2011 that both teams won championships in the same year. The men captured their fifth straight Landmark Conference title and seventh overall Landmark Conference Championship while the women won for the first time since 2013 and earned their third Landmark Conference title. It is Baumann's seventh Landmark Conference Men's Coaching Staff of the Year honor since he took over the Moravian program in 2011 and his third Women's Coaching Staff of the Year selection.

"A huge congratulations to Jesse, Jon and Natalie for garnering both men's and women's Landmark Coaching Staff of the Year," stated Director of Athletics and Recreation Mary Beth Spirk. "Their combined dedication to our cross country student athletes in their training workouts and their academic endeavors are second to none. Jesse, as the head coach and leader, helps to form not only a strong coaching unit, but also an amazing atmosphere within both teams. I am extremely proud of this staff and their combined accomplishments with both the men and women's programs. A sweep of the Landmark Cross Country Team Championship and Coaching Staff of the Year is incredible and well deserved."

Smurla led the field of 98 runners with a personal best time of 21:26.65 on the 6,000-meter course. Myers finished in seventh place in a PR time of 22:55.73 while O'Neil was ninth at a PR time of 23:09.21 and Veivia took tenth with a PR time of 23:11.31. Klingner was 12th with a PR time of 23:14.83 while Amend finished 16th in 23:43.56. Smurla, who made the All-Conference First Team for the fourth straight year, won Moravian's fifth individual Landmark Conference Championship and first since Natalie Novotni captured back-to-back titles in 2018 & 2019. Smurla also added Runner of the Year honors to go with being the Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year in 2022.

"The conference has been extremely deep with individual talent in recent years with remarkable runners who have earned All Americans in track, even NCAA titles, along with qualifying for NCAA meets in both XC and track," noted Baumann. "It has been an extremely difficult league to stand out in, so it's great to see Tara have that moment as a senior. Given the windy conditions, we discussed a plan to be patient on the first lap until we picked up a tail wind heading into around 2k. She did just that and methodically increased the pace. We discussed doing this gradually given the tough weather conditions and making sure we still kept another gear available, but at the same time, trying to establish herself, which is precisely what she did. Again, she's been in contention to win for the past two years, but the conference has just been so deep, but it's great to see her end her senior Landmark campaign on such a high note."

Myers, O'Neil, Veivia, Klingner and Amend were all honored for the first time.

"We've been waiting for our women's team to fire on all cylinders this fall, and although we had been close at various races, it hadn't quite all come together this fall until what we saw on Saturday," Baumann said. "Kayla and Meghan ran some incredible 5ks this spring and have both been looking incredible in workouts. Kate jumped out of the gates at Lehigh but has had up and down races since then, and Kierstyn hadn't quite shown in races what she shows each day of practice. All-Conference accolades, or low 23:00 races alluded the group up until Saturday when they executed perfect race plans, and everything clicked. They're incredible people who have the work ethic and mentality every coach aspires to build a team around, so it's extremely gratifying to see everything come together for them in such a big moment on Saturday."

Frank led the Blue & Grey with a runner-up finish in the field of 100 runners with a season best time of 24:32.92 while Kerchner placed third with a personal best time of 24:46.28 and Hefferan took fourth in a PR time of 24:46.60. Moore finished ninth with a PR time of 25:23.34 while Allegro had a PR time of 25:43.20 to place 12th. Knotts took 14th in the race with a PR time of 25:48.03 while Trigo was 16th at a PR time of 26:01.28 and Kerzmann finished 17th with a PR time of 26:03.00. Kerchner garnered his third All-Conference honor after being on the First Team last fall and the Second Team in 2023 while Hefferan and Moore each earned their second All-Conference honor with Hefferan on the First Team and Moore an Honorable Mention selection last fall. Frank, Allegro, Knotts, Trigo and Kerzmann were all honored for the first time.

"I want to recognize Joe Allegro for the best race of his career," commented Baumann. "Everyone has up and down moments in their career, and Joe has had some of that with his cross country seasons as well. This fall he's been showing the best consistency we've ever seen from him, yet we were still waiting for that true breakthrough his workouts had shown was still in him, or earlier races were starting to foreshadow. Saturday it truly clicked as he ran a brilliant, patient, tactical race that gave our team some needed depth at our #5 spot to secure the team title for Moravian.

"Overall our race plan was to be more conservative through the first lap and a half of the course on Saturday to ensure we'd have the strength to close stronger in the back half of the race and the team executed it perfectly," Baumann continued. "Gavin, Cole, and Bryan let some other bigger moves from their competitors go a little bit to be more patient, and it paid off especially with their closing kicks through the last kilometer. It also helped to place a number of our men on the All-Conference team for the first time like Nate Moore who benefits more from a consistent pace, or Braeden Knotts who PR'd by roughly 30 seconds and earned an impressive All Conference accolade as a freshman. Our depth is our team's strength, and Saturday showcased this for the 'Hounds."

Moravian is off this week before returning to action at the 2025 NCAA Division III Metro Regional being hosted by Rowan (N.J.) University on Saturday, November 15 at Gloucester County DREAM Park.