Senior Emma Langlois and sophomore Andrew Madden both set personal bests and entered Miami’s all-time top 10 times at the ACC cross country championship last Friday, Oct. 30.
Langlois finished with a time of 22:04.7, good for eight all-time at UM in the 6k. Madden finished with a time of 25:15.1 in the 8k, which puts him in ninth place on Miami’s all-time list in the 8k.
The NC State Wolfpack and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish won ACC champions for women’s and men’s cross country respectively. The Wolfpack took home their fifth championship in a row, while Notre Dame has now won two in the last three years. NC State senior Dominique Clariton and Notre Dame senior Yared Nuguse were the individual champions for their respective schools.
As a team, the Hurricanes did not fare as well. Despite a fresh, young team hungry for victory and a new energy brought in from coach Cody Halsey, the Hurricanes men’s and women’s teams both finished last.
Langlois finished in 85th with her time of 22:04 and freshman Daphnee Lavassas was in 63rd going into her second kilometer, but fell to 109th for the finish. Subsequent finishes for the women’s team had Natalie Verela in 122nd, Morgan Johnson in 123rd, Payton Paine in 131st and Sierra Oliveira failing to finish.
The positive spin for the women’s team is last year not one racer finished in the top 110, with Langlois recording the highest finish at 115th. There was marked improvement from the previous year. In addition the total time for the women’s team improved from 2:09:23 to 1:58:52.
For the men’s team, Madden had the best finish, placing 100th with a time of 25:15. Subsequent finishes for the men’s team had Justin Rittenhouse in 110th, Dillon Fields in 127th, Colin Wilson in 129th and Thomas Betters in 131st.
Like the women’s team, the men’s team also had all runner finish the race, which could not be said for every school. In addition, last year the men’s team finished with a total time of 2:17:12 and improved by two minutes this year. While this may not seem like much, it is a good trend that could point to success in the future.