From Emory University Athletics

The Emory women's cross country team captured first place out of 27 squads at the 2015 NCAA South/Southeast Regional Championships on Saturday and in the process earned an automatic berth to next Saturday's NCAA D-III Championships in Winneconne, Wisconsin. The Kernstown Battlefield in Winchester, Virginia, served as the site of this year's competition with Shenandoah University the host institution.

Emory, ranked 27^th nationally, easily topped the field with 35 points, well ahead of runner-up Rhodes College's effort of 106 points.  Washington and Lee (106 pts.) and Trinity University (136 pts.) were third and fourth, respectively, while Christopher Newport rounded out the top five with 146 points.

Emory saw its top-five runners finish among the top 15 overall, spearheaded by senior Elise Viox who topped the 200-runner field with a personal-best 6K time of 22:05 it represented the seventh time this season in as many outings that Viox finished as the Eagles No. 1 runner, and in the process she became the first Emory performer to cross the finish line first since Tess Gallegos in 2010.  Senior Aileen Rivell continued her resurgence, placing second among the Eagle pack and fourth overall with a time of 22:32, her second-best career mark. Sophomore Gabrielle Stravach was close behind Rivell, registering a 22:34 that was good for a fifth-place finish.  Junior Sophie Cemaj came through with a personal-best tying 22:50 that slotted her in the No. 10 position while freshman Clare Ubersax  rounded out the team's scorers with a showing of 23:02 that ranked 15^th in the field. All of the Emory scorers earned all-region honors as did junior Mia Eisenhandler (23:03, 16^th) and sophomore Hanna Saadegh-Vaziri (23:09, 19^th place).  

Today's championship performance was the second straight and the third in the past five seasons for the Emory women.