By: Dana Relation
Sports Information Assistant
relatdm10@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Jen Jones
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Juniata College men's cross country team ran to a second place finish while senior Katrina Woods (Shirleysburg, Pa./Mount Union) earned the individual title on the women's side at Saturday's 2013 Landmark Conference Championship meet hosted by Catholic University at the U.S. Soldiers & Airmen's Home.
Woods' win gave Juniata its first individual title in the history of the sport. Woods crossed the line first after finishing as runner-up at the 2012 championship meet. She completed the 6000m course in a time of 23:20.30, her second fastest time of the season. "She was behind with 600m to go, but she had a ton left. Then she poured it on," said head coach Jon Cutright. Woods regained the lead and edged out her nearest competitor by over 12 seconds. "It was a good race for her," added Cutright.
Junior Courtney Peterson (York, Pa./Central York) was the next Eagle to finish, placing 28th. Sophomore Jecenia Duran (Temple, Pa./Oley Valley) finished 34th, junior Emily Wolf (York, Pa./Central York) was 46th, and junior Haley Schneider (West Chester, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) was 57th.
The women finished sixth out of seven teams competing in the event with 147 points. Moravian won the meet with 47 points, followed by Scranton (63 points), Susquehanna (75 points), Goucher (87 points), and Catholic (116 points).
Senior Nate Alter (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) ran to a 6th overall finish to lead all Juniata finishers in the men's championship race. Alter finished the 8000m race in a time of 27:38.40.
The next Juniata runner to finish sophomore Ryan Bogdan (Buffalo, N.Y. / Canisius), who finished 10th. Sophomore Matt Guetzlaff (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) crossed 12th, freshman Nick Simpson (Silver Spring, Md./Albert Einstein) finished 13th, and freshman Xavier Cachon (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Lower Merion) placed 14th, junior Stephen Park (State College, Pa./State College) finished 17th, and junior Nick Trapane (Thumont, Md./Catoctin) scored 20th.
The men's cross country team finished second overall with 55 points. Susquehanna won the Landmark crown with 22 points. "Susquehanna ran really well – all the credit to them. I thought we had a chance and we ran hard. We didn't have enough to win, but second is certainly a whole lot better than where we were this time last year. We've got a good future," stated Cutright.
The Eagles now turn their attention to the NCAA Mideast Regional meet hosted by Muhlenberg College at Lehigh University on Saturday, Nov. 16. The women's 6K championship race kicks off at 11 a.m., with the men's 8K race following at 12:30 p.m.
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