St. Thomas Aquinas College's Zoe Merryman and Kaleb Rayle were named the East Coast Conference Women's Cross Country Runner and Men's Cross Country Rookie of the Week respectively on Tuesday, following the Spartans latest meet, the St. Joseph's University Golden Eagles Invitational.

Merryman (Mahwah, N.J.) won the individual title at the Golden Eagle Invitational, held at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, NY on Saturday. Paced by a 6:17.8 mile average, Merryman crossed the 5k course in 19:34.0, good for first place in a field of 162 finishers. Paced by Merryman, the Spartans finished second as a squad in a field of 17 with 59 points and an average 5k course time of 21:10. 

Turning in the fastest time by a freshman, and sixth-fastest overall time by an ECC runner, at the Golden Eagle Invitational, Rayle (Northfield, Ohio) averaged a 5:38.1 mile to cross the 8k finish line in 28:00.7, good for 18th in a field of 168 finishers. Finishing as STAC’s top runner, Rayle led the Spartans to a fourth-place team finish in a field of 18 teams.

The Spartans next compete at the Shenandoah University Hornet Harrier Invitational & Commonwealth Challenge on Saturday, September 28 (9:00 a.m.) at Kernstown Battlefield in Winchester, Virginia.

ECC Cross Country Weekly Report for 9/24/24