Women's Results l Men's Results l Men's XC Awards l Women's XC Awards l Photo Gallery

Victor, NY – Nazareth hosted the 2017 Empire 8 Cross Country Championships Saturday at Parkview Fairways, with both the men's and women's teams taking fifth place.  Three runners earned all-conference honors with Claire Ludington earning First Team All-Empire 8 and Christopher Celecki, along with Devyn Chase notching Second Team All-Empire 8 accolades.

Stevens was victorious on the men's side with 23 points, with St. John Fisher (70) second and Utica (78) third.  Houghton had 113 points, followed closely by Nazareth (117), Alfred (147), Elmira (205) and Hartwick (208).

On the women's side, Utica took the top spot with 29 points, followed by Stevens (46), St. John Fisher (88), Houghton (95), Nazareth (125), Sage (163), Elmira (208) and Hartwick (221).

In the men's race, Celecki (28:50.5) and Chase (28:53.9) were separated by less than four seconds over the 8k course to earn 16^th and 18^th place, respectively.

Junior Jack Wessel ran 29:38.5 to come in 25^th place. 

Rounding out the scoring for Nazareth was Michael Brown in 34^th place (30:09.3) and Zechariah Nower (31:02.1) in 42^nd place.

Ludington had a strong day for the Golden Flyers, finishing in ninth place with a 6-kilometer time of 25:05.4.

Maria Staehr was also a bright spot, coming in 25^th place (26:49.3). 

Lauren Guilfoil was close behind Staehr (26:56.2), followed by Megan Menz (27:32.2) and Eileen Shea (27:58.4).  Guilfoil was 27^th, Menz 33^rd and Shea 42^nd place.

Hannah Hullihen (29:23.9) and Kelly Artini (29:50.6) were 53^rd and 54^th place, respectively.

In addition, Brown and Guilfoil were named to the Sportsman/Sportswoman of the Year Teams.  One male and one female from each team were named as that institution's representatives on the 2017 Cross Country Sportsman/Sportswoman of the Year Team.  Empire 8 emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportsmen/sportswoman. 


Nazareth returns to action in two weeks for the NCAA Atlantic Regional hosted at Houghton College.