CENTER VALLEY, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College earned the 10th Middle Atlantic Conference men's cross country championship in program history by placing five runners in the top 11 to capture the title at DeSales University on Saturday.
The Blue Jays earned their first conference championship since concluding a run of eight straight titles in 2006, scoring 31 points to finish ahead of Messiah College (50 points) and DeSales University (106 points). Elizabethtown head coach Chris Straub was honored as MAC Coach of the Year for the eighth time in his career as four Blue Jays finished in the top 10 and three more in the top 15 in the field of 134 runners.
Eric Reichert was the top individual finisher for Elizabethtown, taking second with a time of 27:04.15 that was less than five seconds behind race winner Tyler Newhook of Messiah. Colby Miller placed fourth in 27:22.99, followed by Myles Lund in sixth at 27:35.62 and Evan DeArmitt in eighth place at 27:45.62. Each of the Blue Jays who finished in the top 10 earned first-team All-Conference recognition.
Russell Speiden placed 11th for the Blue Jays with a time of 28:10.67, followed closely by Chris Heisey in 13th place at 28:12.75 and Charlie Larsen in 14th at 28:13.08, giving all three second-team All-Conference honors. Other top finishers for the Blue Jays were Aaron Focht in 23rd place at 28:45.82 and Adam Derkacz in 34th place at 29:18.83.
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