ELON, N.C. – After a week away from competition, the Elon University men’s and women’s cross country programs are back in action this week as the Phoenix travels to the Paul Short Run at Lehigh University on Friday, Sept. 29 at the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course. The meet will begin with the women’s 6K open race at 10:15 a.m. followed by the women’s 6K “Gold” race at 11:45 a.m. The meet will conclude with the men’s 8K “Brown” race at 12:15 p.m.
Follow @EU_XCTF
Updates of the meet will be posted on Twitter at the programs’ handle, @EU_XCTF. Other updates will also be provided at the handle, @elonscores. There will be live results of the meet that can be found on the program’s schedule page at elonphoenix.com.
About the Field
The 44th annual Paul Short Run will feature a deep and talented field from across the nation and all three NCAA divisions. Twenty-seven teams ranked in this week’s USTFCCCA national polls will be represented at this year’s meet. Four of the five power conferences will be represented at Paul Short this year including the Southeastern Conference (Georgia, Miss. St.), Big 10 (Rutgers), Atlantic Coast (Georgia Tech) and the Pac 12 (Arizona). Utah State from the Mountain West will be on hand as well, plus two schools from Canada. Overall, approximately 6,000 athletes from nearly 450 colleges and high schools slated to compete at this year’s Paul Short Run.
Last Time Out
In the second overall meet of the season, the Phoenix competed at the Adidas XC Challenge on Friday, Sept. 15 at the WakeMed Soccer Park Cross Country Course. Facing a talented field in both the men’s and women’s races, the Phoenix women placed seventh in the 5K race while the men finished 10th overall.
Brigid Brennan was the top finisher for the maroon and gold women in the women’s “White” 5K race. The senior nearly tied her personal-best in the race and clocked a 17:54.7 to finish 19th. Fellow senior Corey Weiss was the next female runner to cross the line for Elon, coming in at her time of 18:22.8 at 35th overall. Chelsea Smith was third for the Phoenix at 18:33.7 in 38th followed by Melissa Anastasakis at 18:42.7 in 43rd.
On the men’s side, Richie Kasper led the way for the maroon and gold with his time of 20:06.0 in the men’s “White” 6K run. The wave of Phoenix behind Kasper consisted of redshirt sophomore Colton Lawson (20:11.1), junior Cooper Jansson (20:36.3), senior Justin Leopold (20:47.2) and juniors Josh Kruppa (21:05.9) and Greg Paugh (21:08.6).
In Competition on Friday
Scheduled to compete on Friday at the Paul Short Run for the Phoenix women includes Anastasakis, Brennan, Bridget Kanaley, Paige King, Sami King, Lauren Lynch, Kelly McCarten, Abby Reimer, Smith, Weiss and Rachael Wesolowski. Paige King, Lynch, McCarten, Reimer and Wesolowski will run in the women’s open race.
The Paul Short run will also see the season debut of junior Coralea Geraniotis, who entered this season as Elon’s top returning finisher from last year’s Colonial Athletic Association Cross Country Championships. The Orleans, Mass., native was eighth at the championship meet and earned All-CAA accolades.
On the men’s side, Michael Germinario, Jansson, Kasper, Kruppa, Lawson, Leopold and Paugh are all scheduled to represent the Phoenix in the men’s 8K “Brown” race.
Elon to Host the 2017 CAA Cross Country Championships
The Phoenix will host the 2017 CAA Cross Country Championships for the first time this fall on Saturday, Oct. 28. The meet will be the first cross country conference championship meet hosted at Elon since 2009.
Head Coach Kevin Jermyn
Kevin Jermyn will lead the Phoenix cross country teams in his first season as the head coach after taking reins of the programs in July. Jermyn arrived after spending the past year as the executive director of the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA). Prior to that, he was the head women’s cross country and associate track and field coach at Duke for 14 seasons (2000-14).
At Duke, Jermyn was an ACC Coach of the Year and a NCAA Southeast Region Coach of the Year while leading the Blue Devils to second and third place finishes at the NCAA Championships in 2004 and 2005, respectively, while also capturing the ACC and Southeast Region titles. He also coached 18 athletes to a total of 41 NCAA All-America performances including a pair of NCAA individual champions.
Up Next
Elon returns to the course for a pair of meets the weekend of Oct. 13-14. A group will race at the High Point VertCross Invitational on Friday, Oct. 13, while select others travel to the NCAA Pre-Nationals the following day, Oct. 14.