Men's Cross Country 11/15/2014 2:52:00 PM

Gresh runs to all-region finish; Jays place seventh at regionals

Results

NEWVILLE, Pa. — Dan Gresh was being counted on to come up big in a big moment for the Elizabethtown College men's cross country team at Saturday's NCAA Division III Mideast Regional meet held at Big Spring High School. Gresh did just that, placing 18th overall in a field of 343 runners for his first career All-Region honor. He led the Blue Jays, who finished seventh in the team standings with 245 points.

The men's cross country program has had a history of producing top regional runners, and Gresh added his name to that impressive list. Two weeks after winning the Landmark Conference meet, he was the 18th competitor to finish, running his second-best career 8k time of 25:39.9. The senior became the 28th different runner in program history to earn the all-region distinction. It is also the seventh straight regional meet in which E-town has had an athlete finish in the top 35. Gresh's best finish in a regional race prior to Saturday was in 2012, when he was 45th at the same meet location.

Following Gresh was Ryan Conway, who ran a personal best 8k time of 26:12.2 in his second regional race of his career. Conway, the 89th overall finisher in 2013, took 46th at Big Spring. Three seconds behind Conway was Sam Cooper, who beat out Allegheny's Alex Simon at the line for 53rd. Cooper and Simon both finished with a time of 26:15.3. Zach Trama was close behind for 55th, clocking in at 26:17.5, to give E-town's 2-3-4 runners just five seconds of separation.

In his first Mideast Regional race, Keegan McDonough ran under 27 minutes in an 8,000-meter race for the first time since his best time of the season at Geneseo in early October. McDonough took 73rd on the day in a time of 26:44.3.

Jon Anderson and Andrew Lesko also competed for Elizabethtown. Anderson, back for his second regional race, was 83rd in 26:52.2. He ran 27:48 in 2013 and finished 169th. Lesko suited up for his first Mideast Regional and ran 27:02.3 to place 99th, making sure all E-town runners were in the top 100 overall.

While it looks like the team will miss out on the national meet, Gresh has given himself the chance to qualify individually. The official field will be announced tomorrow, Sunday, at 2 p.m. Elizabethtown was the best-placing team out of the Landmark Conference, ahead of Susquehanna in eighth.

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Players Mentioned

Jon Anderson: 5' 10"; Sophomore

Ryan Conway: 6' 0"; Junior

Sam Cooper: 6' 0"; Junior

Dan Gresh: 5' 11"; Senior

Andrew Lesko: 6' 2"; Sophomore

Keegan McDonough: 6' 1"; Sophomore

Zach Trama: 6' 2"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Jon Anderson
: 5' 10"; Sophomore

Ryan Conway
: 6' 0"; Junior

Sam Cooper
: 6' 0"; Junior

Dan Gresh
: 5' 11"; Senior

Andrew Lesko
: 6' 2"; Sophomore

Keegan McDonough
: 6' 1"; Sophomore

Zach Trama
: 6' 2"; Junior