SALEM, Va.- EMU Cross Country completed the regular season portion of their 2026 campaign on Saturday morning, lacing up their racing shoes at the South Region Showdown at Green Hill Park in Salem, Va. With temperatures in the low 50s, it was perfect running conditions for the competitive field of runners who took to the flat and fast course that has hosted several ODAC championships.
It was a banner day for the men's team as six of the eight runners set new 8k (4.98 miles) personal records. As a squad, the Royals took home eighth place against a stacked field of teams, and they placed fourth among ODAC teams, trailing only Lynchburg, Roanoke and Washington & Lee.
Kaleb Kabakjian won individually in a time of 24:54.1, the only runner to get under the 25-minute barrier in the meet. Ohio Northern took home the team title with a low score of 39 points.
Highlights
- Team Score: 8th of 15 (232 points)
- Noah Hagberg led the Royals with a breakthrough performance, traversing the course in a 8K PR time of 25:59.7, a 1:53 improvement from his previous best. Furthermore, with that time, Hagberg now ranks eighth in EMU history for the men's 8k, becoming the eighth different runner to get under 26 minute at that distance.
- Hagberg finished 15th out of 172 runners in the meet, and he was sixth among ODAC athletes.
- Theo Andreas was the next EMU runner across the finish line with a time of 27:03.3, a personal best by 46 seconds, to finish 56th overall. He now moves up to 19th on EMU's all-time 8k list.
- Hot on Andreas' heels was Jonah Smith, finishing 67th in a personal record time of 27:16. Smith now resides in the 24th on the all-time 8k list for the Royals.
- Joshua Reinford clocked in at 27:47.4 for 8k, placing 91st. Reinford's time was a personal best by 1:15, and he is now 25th in EMU history for the men's 8k.
- Luke Buckwalter completed EMU's scoring five by finishing 111th in a time of 28:25.0, missing out on PR of his own by just two-tenths of a second.
- Ben Huyard (146th/30:12.7), Alex Belisle (152nd/30:58.7) and Ben Wheeler (163rd/32:54.9) also ran well for the Royals on Saturday morning. Huyard and Wheeler's times are both personal records for the 8k.
What's Next
EMU Cross Country will put their fitness to the test against the best of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference at the annual ODAC XC Championships on Saturday, Oct. 31. The conference championship meet gets underway with the women's 6k at 10 a.m., followed by the men's 8k at 11 a.m.
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the EMU cross country program this year, follow EMU Athletics on Instagram, like EMU Athletics on Facebook or visit our website.
