Cross Country Sweeps First Place Finishes at EMU Fall Classic Races

DEXTER, MICH. – Both men’s and women’s cross country teams paced the competition on Friday, Oct. 20, at the EMU Fall Classic, earning the guiding team wins with first placed finishes while the freshmen continued to post promising tape-cutting performances. 

The men started things off on the afternoon, sweeping the podium while all five attached runners finished in the top-12 of their competition to win the 2023 EMU Fall Classic. Unattached freshmen Michael Hegarty and Moses Osterink led the way finishing first and second overall, finishing the 5K course at 15:25.9 and 15:34.7 respectively. Sophomore Matthew Zeleke followed close behind in third as the first attached finisher at 15:42.8. 

Another pair of unattached freshmen in Joey Bowman and Kyle Eberhard crossed the line in fifth and sixth at 15:48.7 and 15:49.0. Sophomore Owen Gilbert was the next across the line in tenth overall with a time of 16:15.2. Following him was sophomore Timothy Cherry (13th, 16:23.5) and senior Hunter Zartman in 14th with a career-best 16:24.9. Sophomore Cole Toney rounded out the Spartans five official entrants at 17:15.4. 

The women followed suit and dominated their race as well, claiming first with all five scorers among the top-7 seven attached finishers. Claiming the overall race win unattached was freshman Taylor Pangburn who clocked a time of 18:03.2 on the 5K course. Freshman Allison Cornell, also unattached, crossed the line nine seconds later in second at 18:11.4. Sophomore Chloe Wall was the first attached finisher in the race, finishing fourth overall at 18:24.6. Seniors Taylor Visscher and Madison Price followed in sixth and seventh at 18:34.7 and 18:43.3 respectively. 

Junior Taylor Ewert and freshman Allison Chimielewski rounded out the State scoring, posting 10th and 11th place finishes, also followed closely behind by junior Abbey Carvey in 12th. 

Next, the Spartans best will take on the Big Ten Championships in Madison, Wis. on Friday, Oct. 27 as the women will look to repeat their conference championship from 2022 and the men will hope to improve upon their fourth-place finish.