Men's Cross Country Aims for Top-3 Finish at Landmarks

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata men's cross country team will push for a strong showing at the Landmark Championships Saturday Oct. 21 at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. The Eagles were predicted to finish third at the meet in the preseason coaches' poll. 

Junior Conor Dimond (Summerhill, Pa. / Forest Hills) will be leading the team at USMMA, as he has consistently been the top finisher for the team this season. Dimond ran a season-best at the Lock Haven Invitational with a time of 26:32.1. 

Freshmen Evan MacMullin (Haverhill, Mass. / St. John's Prep), Eric Savarese (Oley, Pa. / Oley Valley), and Kevin Schofield (Madison, CT / Daniel Hand) will be looking to push themselves this weekend while junior Nick Simpson (Silver Spring, Md. / Albert Einstein) and senior Jacob Krott (Temple, Pa. / Muhlenberg) strive to be amongst the team's top runners. 

"The men should be in the top three," head coach Jon Cutright said. " Everything will be contingent to running our best." 

Cutright suggests that the Eagles are running their best right now and expects a strong showing at the Championships. 

"Sometimes it's easy to be on a downward slope at this point in the season, but that isn't the case for us," Cutright said. "Our preparation has been with this course in mind. We are looking better now than we have all year." 

Cutright also identifies that the team's strategy of running in a pack will be of great benefit to them. 

"Running in a pack is key for the team," Cutright said. "It makes it easier on them because they're able to keep one another encouraged and gain a good sense of where they are as a team. It also gives us an advantage in scoring." 

The race begins at 11 a.m. on Sat. Oct. 31.