PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (Oct. 22, 2023) - Georgian Court Cross Country was the first team to compete for a CACC Championship this season. The Lion men were looking to repeat after winning the 2022 championship, but fell just short for second place. The GCU women took seventh overall.

On Championship Sunday morning, the women raced 5,000m at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia, Pa. This was the second time GCU ran at Belmont Plateau, also competing at the Philly Metro in September, the second meet of the season. Every Lion on the women's side who raced that day in September improved upon her time at the conference meet.

Amirah Beasley earned her place on the CACC All-Conference team finishing in 10th place. She ran 21:24.8, her best time ever at Belmont Plateau and more than 30 seconds faster than the conference meet last year. Competing in her first conference championship, Remi Reinhardt finished 22nd overall with a time of 22:41.04.

Niya Barden and Brenna Sullivan finished back-to-back in 32nd and 33rd place. Barden ran 23:21.67 and Sullivan 23:25.88. Madalin Jones capped the scoring for the Lions running 24:08.20 for 41st place. Selma Cazimoska was 50th overall in a time of 26:54.68.

Jefferson ran away with the team championship scoring 39 points. Chestnut Hill was second with 90 points. Ana Eshraghi of the Rams was the overall winning running 19:58.71 in a field of 62.

The men were seeking to repeat as team champions from a year ago. They nearly pulled it off, running a tough race and came in second by just six points to Wilmington. The Lions totaled 52 points while the Wildcats scored 46 to edge Georgian Court.

Three Lions had top-10 finishes to earn All-CACC honors. Xavier Seals ran 27:25.1 for the 8K course and took third place. Behind Seals was Kyle Spector in fourth crossing the line in 27:30.6. Alec Valle finished in sixth place after running 27:43.9.

A pair of Lion freshmen finished back-to-back inside the top-20. Max Salgado-Vidal was 19th overall running 29:30.6 and Ryan Pettrow 20th in 29:36.2. All five of the Lions in the top-five who scored improved their time from the race earlier this season at the Philly Metro. Seals, Spector and Valle also all improved their time from the 2022 conference race on this course. 

Joseph Jamolawicz and Riley Keffer completed the field for the Lions. Jamolawicz was 30th overall running 30:51.5 and Keffer 45th in 32:18.1.

Tilak Datta was the individual champion among 67 runners. He ran 26:43.0 to win the crown.

The 2023 NCAA East Region Championship will be held Saturday, Nov. 4 from Rindge, NH.