TOWSON, Md. --- Moravian University freshman Tara Smurla has been honored as the Landmark Conference Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week for her performance last week.

Smurla collected her first collegiate win as she placed first of the 38 runners with a time of 24:03.5 on the 6,000-meter course at the Caslin Classic hosted by Goucher College last Saturday as the Greyhounds finished first. Smurla won the race by a minute and 15 seconds over the next competitor.

"Tara has been having a great fall, but we wanted to work on aspects of her race and fitness that would benefit her later in the season," commented Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Jesse Baumann. "The first few races she's been getting out extremely quickly over the first mile to two kilometers and the additional kilometer in the college racing distance has proven to cost her with that approach. Saturday, we stressed being even paced and a much more subdued approach to the race, and this led to an easy victory for her where she felt much better the last 2k. We're expecting it'll be an approach she can utilize and benefit from at Rowan this weekend and into our championship season."

The Greyhounds are scheduled to return to action on Saturday, October 15 at the Rowan University Border Battle with the 6,000-meter race at Gloucester County Dream Park slated to begin at 11:00 a.m.