The Emory cross country teams continued their season on Friday night, competing in the Queen City Invite at McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a successful trip for the Eagles, sweeping the meet with the men and women both taking first and several runners posting new personal bests. The women posted a dominating score of 37, besting second-place Davidson, an NCAA Division I opponent, who posted 56 points and SCAD who posted 64 pints in third. The men scored a 50, topping NCAA Division II's top-ranked team Wingate's 60 points in second and Davidson's 70 points in third.
 
The women got things started, running at the 5k distance, seeing four Eagles finish in the top 10 of all runners. Graduate student Brigid Hanley paced the Eagles, coming within a tenth of a second of tying her best time at the distance. Hanley raced to a second-place finish, clocking in at 17:44.68. Senior Liesl Scherrer was right behind, posting a personal-best time of 17:53.76 and finishing in third place. Senior Madison Tiaffay also posted a new personal best, clocking in at 18:11.41 in eighth place. Sophomore Elizabeth Csikai rounded out the group of Eagles to finish in the top 10, coming in ninth just behind Tiaffay at 18:13.55. Rounding out the top-five finishers for the Eagles was freshman Ashlyn Pallotta, who finished in 15^th at 18:29.67, a more than 10 second improvement over her first meet a couple of weeks back.
 
A pair of freshmen were close behind their teammate, Pallotta, with Davis Johnson finishing in 16^th at 18:33.27 and Rowan Miller finishing in 21^st at 18:47.34. Junior Luna McCauley and sophomore Cameron Gupta finished neck-and-neck in 22^nd and 23^rd, respectively. McCauley finished in 18:55.21 with Gupta on her heels at 18:58.28.
 
Rounding out the performances for the women were freshman Arden Gray in 25^th with a time of 19:06.93, sophomore Payton Fleming in 26^th with a time of 19:08.88, senior Jenna Daly in 29^th with a time of 19:24.21, sophomore Elise Picard in 36^th with a time of 19:51.27, freshman Avery McAdams in 39^th with a time of 19:55.04, junior Karsten Bobb in 40^th with a time of 20:00.49, and freshman Ryleigh O'Donnell in 45^th with a time of 20:15.60.
 
On the men's side, competing in the 8k race, five Eagles finished in the top-15 to secure the Emory sweep at the meet. Leading the way for the Eagles was graduate student Spencer Watry, who posted a new personal-best with a time of 25:20.31 and finished eighth overall. A cavalry of Eagles finished 10^th through 13^th, with graduate student Scott Masterson leading the charge. Masterson raced to a 10^th place finish with a time of 25:27.90. Coming behind him was freshman Ryan Van de Berghe, racing to a 25:29.06 finish in 11^th, sophomore Kirin Karver coming in at 12^th with a time of 25:31.93, and graduate student Tristan Olpin coming in at 13^th with a time of 25:33.63.
 
Sophomore Olin Gilster also finished in the top-20 with an 18^th place finish and a time of 25:48.05. Joining him in the top-20 was freshman Dalton Lowery who came in 20^th and clocked in at 26:03.62. Junior Lucas Moskovitz and sophomore Nicholas Krol were close behind, finishing in 22^nd and 23^rd, respectively. Moskovitz clocked in at 26:06.44 and Krol was in 26:12.44 – both of which being new personal-bests for the pair of Eagles.
 
Rounding out the times for the men were freshman Carsen Valenta in 26^th with a time of 26:16.58, freshman Parker Carrus in 29^th with a time of 26:22.73, sophomore Jacob Zalis in 36^th with a time of 26:35.58, sophomore Ezra Shilling-Rabin in 37^th with a time of 26:42.11, sophomore John Urciuoli in 38^th with a time of 26:47.08, junior Matthew McClure in 40^th with a time of 26:48.54, junior Nikhil Makker in 45^th with a time of 27:01.30, sopohomore Hiromu Sakuma in 52^nd with a time of 27:20.27, senior Turner Goetsch in 69^th with a time of 27:57.41, and senior Justin Whitney in 85^th with a time of 28:35.14.
 
The Eagles will be back in action next month when they compete in the Alexander Asics Invitational and Paul Short Run. The Alexander Asics Invitational will take place in Fairburn, Georgia on Friday, October 4^th while the Paul Short Run will take place in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Saturday, October 5^th.