The Elon University cross country team started its 2013 season in winning fashion with the team title at the Wake Forest Relays Friday, Aug. 30. The men finished second overall while the women’s team repeated as women’s champions.
The all-North Carolina affair saw the Phoenix women win with just nine points, three ahead of host Wake Forest University and well ahead of Southern Conference rival University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Elon duos won both the men’s and women’s races. Freshman Kimberly Johansen and junior Tereza Novetna won the women’s race with a time of 31:53. Junior Luis Vargas and senior Ben Perron secured the men’s title with a time of 36:00-even.
The Wake Forest and Elon women's teams alternated finishing with sophomore Elyse Bierut and freshman Shelby Cuddeback finishing third and junior Jenny Gallagher and sophomore Kaitlin Snapp finishing fifth with times of 32:04 and 32:15, respectively.
The rest of the women’s pairs finished eighth, tenth, and eleventh at the relay.
Wake Forest edged out Elon by only a slight margin to take the men’s crown. The Demon Deacons finished with nine points while the Phoenix had 12.
Junior Ari Rothschild and senior Nick Schneider finished fifth in the race, crossing the finish line with a time of 38:16. Seniors James Stevenson and Nick Foley came in eighth place with a time of 38:38. Freshman Ian O’Leary and junior Adam Bernstein were right behind Foley and Stevenson, finishing in ninth place clocking in with a time of 38:44.
The Phoenix will return home to host the Elon Invitational on September 14. The women’s race will kick off the event at 9 a.m. with the men’s race following. The women have won back-to-back Elon Invitationals.