The EMU Cross Country team has performed well thus far into the season. With four meets done there is one more before the ODAC Championship, and the team is preparing. With some fantastic performances, Erin Loker has the second best time for the women’s 5K and 6K runs in the ODAC. The sophomore out of Eastern Mennonite High School had a time of 19:26.20 for the women’s 5K at the EMU Heritage XC Invitational, getting third place.
“I trained a lot over the summer and that has helped me improve significantly from last year.” Loker said over an email. “I was not expecting to be able to push myself as much as I have. It has been a bit of a learning curve, but I am overall very happy with the way this season is going.” Her times have only been passed in the ODAC by Olivia Morra of Bridgwater College for the 6K, and Adelynn Carpenter of the University of Lynchburg for the 5K.
When talking about the team Erin mentioned “We have an amazing team that is full of talented and encouraging people that I am very grateful for.” The team has not come in last in the four meets and came in second for the EMU Heritage XC Invitational and the Bridgewater Invitational.
The men’s cross country team has had a slightly harder time since losing some runners from last year. The Royals started the season off with a third place team finish in the men’s 5K and a third place individual finish from the sophomore out of Christiansburg, Va Luke Buckwalter. Southern Virginia came in first and the JMU Cross Country Club came in second place. While that meet did not go as hoped by the team, a sixth out of nine place finish for the Royals in the CNU Cross Country Invitational went better. Then in the Bridgewater Invitational the team got third place out of five and Buckwalter took fourth individually with a time of 29:04.07.
“For me personally, it’s been a good season so far,” reflected Buckwalter. “Since my first season last year, I’ve been steadily improving with practice and helpful running mechanic tips from [Coach] Bob [Hepler]. Individually, I think we’re all getting better, but we still have a lot of room for improvement. We lost some of our best runners from last year, notably Bellamy [Immanuel], but we haven’t lost hope!”
Hope will be what both teams need going into the final scratch of the season. For teams that are quietly dangerous, anything can happen with a little hope. When asked about being prepared for the next meet, Buckwalter said “Yes, for now I’m ready, unless I get sick or injured.” Both the men’s and women’s teams will need to be fully healthy at the end of the season in order to do something special. The last meet for the teams before the ODAC championships is the Roanoke Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, October 18 at 10:00 am.
