2012-13 Season-in-Review: Cross Country

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – In his 14^th season at the helm, head coach Jon Cutright helped the Juniata College men and women's cross country teams make great strides in maintaining a competitive presence within the Landmark Conference.  The men improved on their championship performance from 2011 to earn fourth place, while the women sat just five points behind second place to secure third for the third time in the past four years.

Men's Cross Country
Two Eagles earned all-conference honors at the end of the season.  Junior Nate Alter (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) crossed second overall at the conference championships (Oct. 27) in a season-best time of 26.45.70, just 0.03 seconds off the career-best mark he ran at the Carnegie Mellon Invite (Oct. 6).  The time earned him First-Team All-Landmark Conference honors.  This is his third-straight all-conference nod, but first time on the top team.  Alter, who owns the Eagles top four 8K times during the season, placed top 10 in three races in 2012.  He was also named the team's most valuable runner.

Joining Alter on the all-conference roster was junior Ryan Trexler (Altoona, Pa./Altoona).  He finished 14^th overall at the championships in 27:52.70 to earn second-team all-conference honors for the first time in his career.  It was his second fastest time in the 8K last year.  Trexler's best performance came at the Gettysburg Invitational (Oct. 13) when he finished just behind of Alter in 27:17.

As a team, the Eagles finished in the top half of competition during the regular season.  Their best overall performance was at the Lebanon Valley Invitational (Sept. 8) where Juniata placed third out of 10 teams, with only six points separating the top three programs.  The men also saw two make the Landmark Academic Honor Roll: sophomores Trevor Stephens (Bethesda, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) and Nicholas Trapane (Thurmont, Md./Catoctin).  Stephens was also named to the Landmark All-Academic Team as one of the two top fall men's student-athletes at Juniata who maintained a high academic standing and made a significant contribution to the program.

The Landmark Conference also awarded the Eagles the 2012 Men's Cross Country Sportsmanship Award as voted on by the coaches.

Women's Cross Country
Junior Katrina Woods (Shirleysburg, Pa/Mt. Union) and senior Caroline Morgan (Haverton, Pa./Haverton Twp.) finished second and third overall, respectively, at the Landmark Conference Championships to earn First-Team All-Landmark honors.  Both are three-time all-conference team members and have earned first-team honors twice in their careers.

Woods was named Landmark Runner of the Week on Sept. 10 after finishing fourth overall at the Lebanon Valley Invitational (Sept. 8).  Her time of 19:09.94 was the fourth fastest in the Landmark and her second fastest of the season.  Morgan and Woods crossed 12^th and 14^th at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational (Oct. 6) to notch the two fastest 5K times in the league at 18:56.60 and 18:59.90, respectively.  Both were named to the Landmark Academic Honor Roll.  Woods was also placed on the All-Academic Team for her performance in the classroom.

Three Eagles earned Honor Roll nods with Woods and Morgan.  Sophomores Alyssa Cousins (State College, Pa./State College), Courtney Peterson (York, Pa./Central York), and Haley Schneider (West Chester, Pa./Bishop Shanahan).

As a team, the women finished meets near the top third during the season.  They won the Juniata Invitational on September 15 and placed 18^th out of 49 at the NCAA Mid-East Regionals hosted by Dickinson (Nov. 10).  Woods was the Eagles top finisher at regionals, crossing 29^th overall out of 346 runners in a time of 23:26.

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