Elon Cross Country Set for CAA Championships

ELON, N.C. – The postseason begins for the Elon University cross country programs as the Phoenix heads to New Market, Va., for the 2019 Colonial Athletic Association Cross Country Championships set for Saturday, Nov. 2, hosted by James Madison University. The meet opens with the men’s 8K at 10 a.m. followed by the women’s 6K at 11 a.m. at the course at New Market Battlefield.

Follow @ElonXCTF
Updates of the meet will be posted on the teams’ social media pages on Twitter and Instagram at the handle, @ElonXCTF. Live results will be provided and can be found on the programs’ schedule page at elonphoenix.com along with a recap and results at the conclusion of the meet.

About the Field
• The men’s field will consist of six teams at the meet with William & Mary looking to defend its championship for the 20th consecutive season. Going into the championships, the Tribe are ranked 15th in the Southeast Regional Rankings.
• Individually, Hofstra’s Alex Masai returns to defend his individual championship after clocking a school-record time of 24:00.70 at the CAA Championships. The Eldoret, Kenya, native has won the CAA Men’s Runner of the Week three times this season.
• The women’s field features nine teams with William & Mary also set to defend its title. The Tribe have claimed six team championships in the last seven seasons at the CAAs.
• The Phoenix women enters the meet as the highest ranked team from the league in the Southeast Regional Rankings, sitting at at seventh overall, a program-best during the regular season. William & Mary is 15th overall.
• Among some of the notable returning runners on the women’s side includes College of Charleston’s Tess Masselink, who was the runner-up at last year’s championships. The junior was the CAA’s Female Runner of the Week on Oct. 8.
• Elon’s Scolasticah Kemei comes into the meet a four-time winner of CAA Runner of the Week award this season and has taken individualist honors in three of her four races this season.

In Competition
• Elon is slated to have 11 women race at the meet on Saturday. Representing the Phoenix women will be Maria Ahm, Melissa Anastasakis, Grace Dellapa, Ashley Irby, Bridget Kanaley, Kemei, Hannah Preeo, Emily Smith, Margaret Springer, Sophia Tasselmyer and Anna Twomey.
• On the men’s side, the seven person-group to don the maroon and gold will include Richie Kasper, Tamer Metwalli, Andrew Miller, Dillon Selfors, Aidan Tierney, Kieran Ungemach and Connor White.

Last Season at the CAA Championships
• Last season, the Elon women was the runner-up at the league championship meet, while the men were third. The Phoenix women were edged out by William & Mary, 63-65, in the closest CAA women’s race since 2004.
• Coralea Geraniotis became the first Phoenix female to earn a conference championship at the Division I level, winning with a time of 21:13.20. It was the fourth time in the last five seasons that Elon has had an individual win CAA title between the men’s and women’s teams.
• Geraniotis earned All-CAA accolades and was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the Meet. Teammate Anastasakis also earned All-CAA accolades with her 10th-place standing and a time of 21:36.20.
• In the men’s race, the maroon and gold men earned third with 81 points, trailing William & Mary (37) and Northeastern (48). It was the fifth straight year that Elon has finished in the top-three at the meet.
• Nick Ciolkowski was fourth overall to lead Elon with a time of 24:11.00 – setting a new school-record in the men’s 8K. He also earned All-CAA honors for the fourth straight year.
• Andrew Miller was also an All-CAA honoree after crossing the line in 12th last season. The Fleming Island, Fla., native, clocked a season-best time of 24:41.80, moving into the top-10 times in school history.

Last Time Out
• The Phoenix closed out its regular season at the ECU Pirate Invitational on Oct. 18. At the meet, the Elon women took the team title while the men’s finished sixth overall. The women harriers had 35 points to win its third meet of the season.
• Kemei broke her own school-record at the meet, clocking a time of 20:25.67 and won her third race of the season. Ahm and Anastasakis also finished in the top-five of the race with personal-best times of 21:02.29 and 21:05.98, respectively.
• On the men’s side, Miller paced the maroon and gold for the third time this season, nearly matching his personal-best time with a 24:45.87 and was 10th overall in the 8K race.

Up Next
The Phoenix travels to the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 15, hosted by the University of Virginia.