The Eastern Michigan University men’s and women’s cross country teams took home the title at the Mid-American Conference Championships Saturdat Oct. 31 in Akron, OH. This will mark the first time that both the men’s and women’s teams win the MAC title in the same year.
The EMU men’s team put out its best performance of the season as it placed five runners in the top ten to bring home its sixth consecutive title. Junior Nick Raymond stood out as the top Eagle in this race, not only finishing in first with a time of 24:10.28, but also taking home the title of individual MAC champion. This marks the 21st time an EMU runner has won the title. This also marks the 11th runner coached by John Goodridge to win this esteemed title. Right behind Nick Raymond was senior Willy Fink, who crossed the finish line in second with a time of 24:15.92.
Next to cross the finish line for the Eagles was sophomore Lahsene Bouchikhi, who finished sixth with a time of 24:34.78. Eighth and ninth place belong to Eagles Csaba Matko and Hlynur Andresson with times of 24:38.12 and 24:46.27. Abel Flores, who has always been a consistent runner for the Eagles, finished in 12th place with a time of 25:03.87. Mitch Lenneman, John Knox, and Cameron Trinh rounded out the Eagles, finishing 13th, 19th, and 41st with times of 25:04.68, 25:29.19, and 26:03.20.
The Eagles also placed seven runners on the All-MAC first and second team, while coach Goodridge coached EMU to its 20th conference title, taking home his 10th MAC coach of the year in the progress.
The EMU women’s team worked hard to win its first MAC title in program history. Alsu Bogdanova took home the title of MAC women’s individual champion.
Bogdanova not only won the individual title, she finished the race in first, becoming the fourth Eagle in history to win the race with a time of 20:39.26. Behind her were Jordan McDermitt and Sofie Gallein, who finished fourth and sixth place with times of 20:53.52 and 21:09.80. Other runners include Amy Frauhammer and Sydney Meyers, who finish 21st and 23rd with times of 22:01.46 and 22:02.77. Behind Meyers was Lauren Pottschmidt who would finish in 56th place with a time of 22:57.82. Claire Mesa, Danielle Bentzley and Anna Aldrich would round out the Eagle runners, finishing in 72nd, 77th, and 80th place with times of 23:21.11, 23:32.01 and 23:36.83.
The women’s team also placed three runners on the All-MAC first team while head coach Sue Parks would take home her first MAC coach of the year here at EMU.
Both the men’s and the women’s teams will have a weekend of rest before heading out to Madison, Wisconsin for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Friday Nov. 13.
