LOGAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. --- The Moravian University men's cross country squad traveled to New Jersey for the NCAA Division III Metro Regional Championship hosted by Rowan University at the Gloucester County DREAM Park on Saturday morning with the Greyhounds earning a sixth place finish of 21 squads with 163 points.

How It Happened

• Senior Shane Houghton was the first Greyhound to cross the finish line of the 8,000-meter course, doing so in 25:42.8 for a new personal best and the 15th fastest 8K race in school history. Houghton finished sixth overall of 157 runners to earn a spot in the 2021 NCAA National Championship Meet as well as being named an NCAA Division III All-Metro Region performer
• Freshman Nathan Hajel also earned All-Region honors with his 24th place finish, completing the course in 26:29.4 as freshman Jake Farrell finished 37th in a time of 26:48.8, also a personal best
•  Junior Liam Duffy and freshman Owen Nahf finished within 15 seconds of each other. Duffy crossed the finish line in 27:01.9 for 43rd and a personal best while Nahf ran the course in 27:15.0 to place 53rd
• Senior Dominic DeRafelo ran a time of 27:39.0 for a 64th place finish and graduate student Peter Gingrich rounded out the Greyhounds runners with an 80th place finish in a time 28:18.0

Quotable from Head Coach Jesse Baumann

• "The men positioned themselves perfectly! We wanted Shane to relax and sit in the top 10 range and our main pack around 35th up until the mid-point when we wanted them to try to make moves.  Shane felt awesome and was able to move up to 6th place and make NCAAs with ease."
• "For the remainder of the pack, some felt really good, most notably Nate Hajel, and others felt just OK and weren't quite able to work through the field as we would have hoped.  With that said, there's nothing else I could have asked for from them.  They set themselves up to be successful which resulted in Shane going to the NCAAs, Nate earning All Region as a freshman, Jake Farrell narrowly missing, and our team placing 6th."
• "We're an exceptionally young team so this was awesome for them to gain experience for future years. Today was an incredible day for this young team that can be special moving forward!"

Up Next for the Greyhounds

• Saturday, November 20 – 2021 NCAA Division III National Championship at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park, Louisville, Ky.