NEW ORLEANS, La. --- Moravian University junior Tara Smurla and Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Jesse Baumann have been honored as the NCAA Division III Metro Region Female Athlete of the Year and Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Tuesday.
Smurla captured the individual title at the 2024 NCAA Division III Metro Regional hosted by Stockton (N.J.) University this past Saturday as she ran a career best time of 21:40.80 on the 6,000-meter course. Smurla earned her third All-Metro Region honor with the victory and clinched a trip to the 2024 NCAA Division III National Championships on November 23 in Terre Haute, Indiana, her second straight trip to the national championships. Overall in 2024, Smurla had three top-five finishes in seven races, and she has lowered her PR three times as well.
Smurla is the first Greyhound to earn USTFCCCA Metro Region Athlete of the Year honors since the regions were realigned in 2021, and she is also the first Moravian student-athlete to capture the award dating back to 2003 when the USTFCCCA began honoring Regional Athletes of the Year.
"Ever since Tara nearly broke 36:00 in the 10k at Bucknell in the spring, we started to see these kinds of performances as being possible for her," noted Baumann. "She had a tremendous summer of training, a huge breakthrough at Paul Short and SUNY Geneseo, and every day has shown us unprecedented levels of fitness even from where she was at back in April. Monday of last week in particular really stood out with what she was doing in her workout, and we knew that if she just ran a normal race, as we like to say, that she could win the region.
"Tara routinely asks us to add more volume to her workouts and long runs, she presses the paces more than we outline for her, and she does all the other little things to optimize her chances to succeed. She's earned every second she's shaved off her PRs because her work ethic is second to none, so we're extremely proud of her achieving this award, she's definitely a worthy recipient," Baumann finished.
Baumann is in his 14th year at Moravian and led the Greyhounds to the team title at the Metro Region Championships with 29 points. Two weeks earlier, Baumann guided the Hounds to a perfect score of 15 points to claim their fourth straight Landmark Conference title, and Moravian also finished first at the Osprey Open at Stockton back in September to preview the course for the regional. Baumann is the first USTFCCCA Men's Regional Coach of the Year since the regions realigned in 2021, and he is the first men's honoree since 1993 when the regional coaching award began.
"Congratulations to Jesse on being honored as the Metro Region Men's Coach of the Year," stated Director of Athletics and Recreation Mary Beth Spirk. "Jesse and his staff have done a tremendous job in recruiting student-athletes and then making those runners become the best that they can be both on and off the course. Jesse's success during his tenure at Moravian is because of his work ethic which he passes along to his staff and his student-athletes. He has turned our men's cross country program into one of the premiere teams in the region. Our department is proud to have Jesse on our team and we are looking forward to how Tara and the men compete at the national championships this week."
The Moravian men qualified for the 2024 NCAA Division III National Championships as a team for the first time after receiving an automatic berth for winning the NCAA Division III Metro Regional on Saturday at Stockton. The Greyhounds' runners at the national meet on Saturday hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology will include seniors Owen Nahf and Nathan Hajel, junior Bryan Kerchner, sophomore Gavin Hefferan and graduate students Cole Stanchina, Josh Mangini and Casey Frank.
The women's national championship race featuring Smurla will be run at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center and is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on Saturday with the men's national championship race to follow at 12:00 p.m. The races will be broadcast live on https://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2024/11/18, and live results will be available at https://results.leonetiming.com/XC.html?mid=4684.
To view all of the 2024 USTFCCCA Region Athlete and Coach of the Year honors, visit https://www.ustfccca.org/2024/11/featured/2024-ncaa-division-iii-cross-country-regional-awards.
