NORTHAMPTON, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's cross country team placed fourth of eight teams at the 2016 Landmark Conference Championships hosted by the Greyhounds at Bicentennial Park in Northampton Saturday morning.
The Blue and Grey had a team score of 95 points while Elizabethtown College captured the team title with 31 points.
Moravian had a pair of All-Conference runners with freshman Gavin Kemery running a season-best time of 26:30.72 on the 8,000-meter course to place sixth of 85 runners and earn First Team honors while freshman Gregory Jaindl posted a season-best run of 26:50.75 to finish 11th and earn Second Team accolades.
Freshman Justin Beasley-Turner was 18th in the race in 27:23.05 while sophomore Peter Milewski was 33rd in 27:48.73 and junior Mike Kopach was 34th in a career-best time of 27:50.79 to round out the Greyhounds' top 5. Sophomore Devon Harris race a 28:21.76 while sophomore Benjamin Smith had a time of 28:26.73.
Freshman Anthony Donatelli turned in a season-best time of 28:30.94 Saturday while freshman Connor Irwin ran 28:49.16. Senior Andrew Mitchell had a season-best time of 28:54.39 while freshman Alex Tursi in 29:35.31 and sophomore Aaron Hofmann had a 30:15.62 to round out the Moravian runners.
"As I told some other people, it was a hit or miss day with our men," commented Head Coach Jesse Baumann. "Two of our top four, Connor Irwin and Devon Harris, were battling some injuries and consequently were limited today, which undoubtedly hurt our team performance. On the other hand, Greg Jaindl, Gavin Kemery, Justin Beasley Turner, and especially Mike Kopach had some of the best races of the year, and in some cases, their career. We were certainly hoping for better than 4th headed into the meet, but the guys positioned themselves well, and again, some were battling some circumstances beyond their control. We had two freshmen earn All Conference honors, and a few PRs as well, so there are a number of positives to take away from today."
The Greyhounds will have a week off before running in the 2016 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional at DeSales University on Saturday, November 12.
