The Emory men and women’s cross country teams traveled to Park Golf Course in Cleveland in pursuit of successful culminations to their seasons at the Division III National Championships.

The men, ranked 11th nationally coming into the meet, finished 14th, and the women, ranked 33rd, finished a disappointing last in the field of 32 teams.

North Central College (Ill.) convincingly won the men’s title with 50 points, and was separated 131 points from runner–up Williams College (Mass.). The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire won the tightly contested women’s team championship with 71 points.

Senior Charlie Meade set the pace for the men, as he captured all-American honors for the second straight year, and also became only the third Emory runner to be named an all-American. He crossed the finish line 12th in the 276-runner field with an 8k time of 25:46. It was the second highest individual finish for an Eagles runner at nationals, behind only Tony Lewis’ sixth place finish in 1985.

“[Charlie] is such a big race runner and he always stays so poised,” Head Coach John Curtin said. “He handles tough situations well, and he understands nationals as well as any runner we’ve had. I give him all the credit in the world. He’s a very tough runner.”

Rounding out the scoring for the men, who tallied 402 points, were seniors Tommy Fyffe (26:25, 54th place), Alex Robin (26:46, 105th), Paul Winterhalter (27:16, 171st) and Greg Decker (27:25, 187th). It was the second-highest finish at nationals for the program, trailing only the 12th-place finish by the 1986 team.

“I think we had a good race,” Meade said. “We thought we had a chance to finish top 12, which would have been the best finish at nationals in school history, but it didn’t come together as planned. We were a little disappointed, but we still finished well.”

Senior Rebecca Flink carried the women with a 6k time of 23:47, which was good enough for 122nd in the field of 280 runners.

She was followed by juniors Natalie Fenn (24:07, 159th) and Jenny Feinberg (25:14, 243rd), sophomore Tess Gallegos (25:15, 245th) and freshman Calley Edwards (25:20, 251st).

“Obviously we’re very disappointed,” Curtin said. “There were teams that we felt we were better than, we just didn’t perform. ... As expected, the freshmen were a little over their heads out there ... but we have a lot of young runners, and it will have been a good experience for them if they can take the positives away from it.”

While both teams finished their seasons at Nationals, the similarities between their campaigns end there.

The men were a senior-laden group — all five of the scoring runners at Nationals were seniors — and they an abundance of experience coming into the season. They cashed in on their high hopes by performing well at UAAs, winning a regional championship and finishing 14th at nationals — good enough for one of the most successful campaigns in the program’s history.

“We didn’t reach all of our goals, but it was still a successful season,” Curtin said. “Historically, it was one of our best. We are in one of the toughest conferences in the country for our sport and our guys performed amazingly well. I’m very proud and happy for them.”

The team owes much of its success this season and in recent years to the departing senior class.

“This class has completely changed the culture of the program,” Curtin said.

“I have to give a lot of credit to [Assistant] Coach Leivers for keeping them on the road to success. Three years ago we were last at Nationals. The guys stuck together, worked hard and I have to give them all the credit in the world. ... This senior group is going to be hard to replace.”

On the other hand, the women’s team only graduates one senior — captain Rebecca Flink.

They came into the season relatively inexperienced and their expectations were tempered accordingly. They started off strong, but eventually succumbed to the pressures of the stretch run. Flink attributed some of the drop-off to inexperience.

“We ran great in the beginning of the season and weren’t completely prepared for how hard UAAs, Regionals and Nationals were going to be,” Flink said. “While our performances at these last races weren’t what we had planned on, I’m really happy with this group of girls. Everyone was supportive of each other, pushed each other and we really came together as a team this season.”

Next year, the teams will undertake a role reversal of sorts — the women’s talented core will return with an added year of experience under its belt, while the men will assume the task of rebuilding, trying to replace the departing senior class. Both teams will be looking to build on this year’s success and continue to compete at the regional and national level.

— Contact Geoff Gilbert.