Women Earn 20th Place At Regional Meet
It's been a long journey for the EMU cross country women this season, but after starting preseason workouts with three runners, the Lady Royals completed the year by taking 20th at the NCAA South/Southeast Regional.
The Eastern Mennonite women finished with 499 points, 20th out of 30 teams at the meet, hosted by Texas Lutheran in Sequin, TX. They were close behind Piedmont with 489 and ahead of McMurry with 510. Emory easily won the region's title with 45 points, putting all five of their scorers in the top 15.
Katie Eckman (Quarryville, PA/Solanco) continued her improvement by finishing 54th overall in a time of 25:01.8. The freshman was an All-ODAC Second Team winner two weeks ago.
Junior Alli Eanes (Harrisonburg, VA/Westmont Hilltop) was next for EMU, taking 80th in 25:41.2. Sophia Holmes (Berryville, VA/Clarke County) and Shelby Helmuth (LaGrange, IN/Greenwood Christian) crossed less than two seconds from each other. Holmes came in 100th at 26:15.0 with Helmuth two spots behind her at 26:16.3.
Laura Bowman (Archbold, OH/Archbold), a recent addition to the team, was the women's final scorer, taking 184th in 30:18.1.
Coach Jason Lewkowicz was pleased with the Lady Royals' progression during the fall.
"I am very proud of the effort put forth by both our teams today," he said. "The fact that our women's team pulled out a top 20 region finish after the starting the season with three runners is a testament to their hard work and effort."
