The Emory cross country teams traveled north to Spartanburg, South Carolina to compete in the Upstate Invitational on Saturday. The event was held at the Milliken Research Center course, with the women running at the 5k distance and the men at the 8k. It was a successful Saturday, with the women dominating the field to finish first out of 19 teams with four individuals logging top-10 finishes. Graduate student Brigid Hanley finished first overall, helping lead the Eagles to the top of the podium on the women's side. The men finished third out of 18 teams, coming in behind NCAA Division I opponents Jacksonville State and Western Carolina.
 
Once again, the top-finishers for the women's team were Hanley and senior Liesl Scherrer Hanley dashed to a first place finish out of 192 runners, clocking in with a time of 17:18.6 to set a new personal best at the distance. Scherrer was right behind, finishing with a time of 17:44.5 in third place. Joining Hanley and Scherrer in the top 10 were junior Luna McCauley and sophomore Elizabeth Csikai. McCauley shattered her previous best by over 50 seconds, clocking in at 18:02.7 in eighth place. Csikai also posted a new personal best, finishing ninth with a time of 18:06.0.
 
Freshman Ashlyn Pallotta turned heads as well, racing to a 13^th place finish with a time of 18:12.9. Coming in right behind her was sophomore Cameron Gupta, who finished two-tenths of a second behind Pallotta with a time of 18:13.1 in 14^th. Another underclassman, freshman Davis Johnson recorded a top-20 finish when she finished in 16^th place with a time of 18:17.2. Fellow rookies Rowan Miller dashed to a 25^th place finish when she clocked in at 18:35.9 and Arden Gray finished 39^th with a time of 18:58.2.
 
Rounding out the Eagles who finished in the top-100 of all runners were freshman Avery McAdams who finished 50^th with a time of 19:11.8, sophomore Elise Picard who finished 53^rd with a time of 19:13.4, sophomore Payton Fleming who finished 64^th with a time of 19:20.0, and senior Jenna Daly who finished 72^nd with a time of 19:26.0.
 
Also seeing action for the women's team was sophomore Morgan Cox who finished 102^nd with a time of 20:06.3 and sophomore Emma Flowers who finished 127^th with a time of 20:43.5.
 
Leading the way for the men's side was graduate student Spencer Watry who finished 13^th out of 199 runners with a time of 24:47.3, setting a new personal-best at the distance. Sophomore Kirin Karver was right on his heels, clocking in at 24:54.4 in 16^th place. This was also a new personal best time for the sophomore. Graduate student Scott Masterson compiled a solid time as well, running to a 22^nd place finish with a time of 25:04.1. Rounding out the top-five Eagles were freshman Ryan Van de Berghe who finished 26^th with a time of 25:14.1 and graduate student Tristan Olpin who finished 28^th with a time of 25:20.4.
 
A cavalry of Eagles was next with sophomores John Urcioli and Olin Gilster and freshman Dalton Lowery all came in alongside one another. Urcioli finished 30^th with a time of 25:20.9, Gilster was 31^st at 25:22.7, and Lowery 32^nd with a time of 25:23.9. Another underclassman, freshman Parker Carrus, turned in a strong showing, running to a 35^th place finish with a time of 25:29.2. Also finishing inside of the top 50 was senior Marcus Cheema with a time of 25:43.0 in 43^rd, junior Matthew McClure with a time of 25:43.9 in 44^th, and sophomore Nicholas Krol with a time of 25:48.4 in 48^th.
 
Also competing for Emory was freshman Carsen Valenta who finished 51^st with a time of 25:52.7, junior Nikhil Makker who finished 61^st with a time of 26:10.8, junior Lucas Moskovitz who finished 67^th with a time of 26:19.0, sophomore Hiromu Sakuma who finished 77^th with a time of 26:29.5, senior Justin Whitney who finished 92^nd with a time of 26:40.1, senior Turner Goetsch who finished 100^th with a time of 26:53.7, and senior Ben Zamler who finished 118^th with a time of 27:16.7.
 
The Eagles will now shift their focus to the postseason. They'll have a couple of weeks off before they get set to compete in the UAA Championships followed by the NCAA Regional and Division III Championships. The UAA Championship meet will take place at Highland Park in Attleboro, Massachusetts on Saturday, November 2^nd and hosted by Brandeis University.