Cross Country Set for More Victories
Anjel Clemente
Manchester’s cross country teams has had successful seasons in the past couple of years and 2016 seems to be shaping up to be the same, if not better.
Both the men’s and the women’s teams began the season on the right foot, with the women taking the team title and the men taking a team second at home during Manchester’s Hokum Karem Invitational on Sept. 1.
On the women’s side, a strong effort by the first-year team of Emily Ewen and Hannah Wappes helped achieve the individual title. The Hokum Karem was Ewen’s first collegiate race of her career and despite a few speed bumps, the Tri-Country High School graduate was able to pull off a successful performance. “It was scary, being my first race in college,” she said. “I was already not feeling too well, but I think it went really well.” For the men’s team, the senior pair of Alex Gudeman and Thomas Dean were able to take home the individual first place.
On Sept. 10, the men achieved a second-place team finish and the women earned a first-place team finish at the Hanover Invitational. Gudeman took the individual title for the men with a time of 27:43:33. Senior Mariah Jordan took the individual title with a time of 24:31.10, with senior teammate Tiffany Harber following in second and then teammates following in fourth, sixth and seventh.
Less than a week later, the teams traveled to Indiana University in Bloomington for the Indiana Intercollegiate Championships, which consists of 13 different colleges throughout Indiana.
The men’s team was able to finish tenth overall with a sixth place finish by senior Gudeman with a time of 27:07.65 and a seventh place finish by senior Connor Bresnahan with a time of 27:09.21.
The women pulled off an impressive third-place team finish. Senior Mariah Jordan placed fourth overall with a time of 19:44.84, and Wappes took tenth place with a time of 20:34.61. The next meet for the Manchester Cross Country team is tomorrow, Oct. 1, when they travel to Louisville, KY, for the Greater Louisville Invitational.
Jordan, from Fort Wayne, IN, received the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Weekly Honors for the week of Sept. 12–18 for her fourth-place finish at Indiana Intercollegiate Invite. This marks her second Weekly Honors of the 2016 season and the eighth of her collegiate career.
One thing that makes this team so great is their chemistry. “For the most part, I would say we’re a pretty close family,” said sophomore runner Hannah Tobin.
Ewen agreed. “A two-day camp at the beginning of our season had us running together a lot and brought us closer as a team from the start,” she said. “The seniors did a great job including the first years in their activities, whether it was going out to eat or just hanging out outside of practice.”
This team of talented runners is seeded high for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and projected for another team first place.