Pack Leads Men to First ODAC Title Since 1998 Season, Women Second
LYNCHBURG, VA -- The Roanoke College men's cross country team claimed it's first Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship since the 1998 season by winning the title on Saturday afternoon in Lynchburg, VA. The Roanoke men finished with 30 points on the afternoon, nine ahead of second place Lynchburg College and won their eighth all-time league title. The Roanoke women finished second only top Lynchburg College which had a near-perfect 20-point effort on Saturday. The Roanoke women had 67 points. In leading the men to the title, head coach Finn Pincus was named the ODAC Coach of the Year.Roanoke senior Jacob Pack (Roanoke, VA/Patrick Henry) finished in second place at the meet and in doing so earned First Team All-ODAC honors. Pack held the lead with just over 250 meters to go, but ended the race in second, 10 seconds behind the individual runner. A big factor in Roanoke's championship was Eric Johnson's (Topsham, ME/Mt. Ararat) fourth place finish. The freshman ran the 8K course in 28:54 and was just beat out for third. Zack Tembi (Windsor, CT/Windsor) ran the race in 29:30 and was the seventh runner to finish. He was closely followed in eighth and ninth by teammates Will Justice (Sterling, VA/Broad Run) and Rob Welch (Seekonk, MA/Seekonk) who had races of 29:35 and 29:36.
On the women's side, Lynchburg finished 1-2-3, with Roanoke's Erin Alexander (Harrisonburg, VA/Harrisonburg) earned the Maroons four points with her fourth place finish (26:49). Ashley Eshaghi (Buena Vista, VA/Parry McCluer) took 12th overall with a run of 27:23 and was just seven seconds and one spot ahead of teammate Bridget Tainer (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring). Christie Van Pelt (Richardsville, VA/Culpepper) was Roanoke's fourth scoring runner, finishing the 6K race in 27:30. Just two spots behind was Roanoke's fifth and final scorer Chrissie Rich (Williamsburg, VA/Jamestown) (28:02).
The Maroons take the next two weekends off before returning to action in the NCAA South/Southeast Regional meet which will be hosted by Emory University in Atlanta, GA.