HOUGHTON, N.Y. - The Hartwick Men's Cross Country team prepared themselves for the 2024 Empire 8 Cross Country Championships, held at the Field of Dreams, hosted by Houghton University.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The Hawks geared up for the Empire 8 Championship on a familiar course, hoping to improve their performance from last year on this very course.

• Sophomore Erik Higgins (Buffalo, N.Y.) continues to lead the Hawks to success, being the first Hawk to cross the finish line, clocking in at 29 minutes and 47 seconds.

• Devon Spalding (Mineola, N.Y.) continues to improve as the season carries on, the first year finished just eleven seconds behind Higgins in his first postseason race with a finishing mark of 29 minutes and 28 seconds.

• First year Jayden Perera (Middle Village, N.Y.) had a breakout performance, turning in a personal best of 31 minutes and 22 seconds as Hartwick kept pushing.

• Larry McCumiskey (Delhi, N.Y.) has had a successful debut year, coming in 14 seconds behind Perera with a finishing mark of 31 minutes and 36 seconds.

• Calvin Higgins (Buffalo, N.Y.) earned points for the Hawks as well, clocking in with a time of 33 minutes and 24 seconds.

• Ethan Benedict (Apalachin, N.Y.) capped off the stellar day for the Hawks, crossing the finish line with 39 minutes and 12 seconds, giving Hartwick an 8th place finish in the 2024 Empire 8 Championship.

• Championship results can be found here.

COMMENTS FROM HEAD COACH NATE CREWS
"The men set their eyes on SUNY Poly today and despite some setbacks mid race, we took the result we wanted. Four men ran personal best and two others ran season best. Jayden Perera showed the most improvement today, crossing the line as our 3rd runner with a 2 minute and 57 second improvement on his personal best. The men also averaged 39 seconds faster than they did at the 2023 Empire 8 Championship."

HARTWICK COLLEGE

One of the oldest colleges in the country, Hartwick has continually evolved for 225 years. The College's exciting new chapter is called FlightPath, a future-focused approach to education. Offering a distinctive blend of curricular, co-curricular and real-world work experiences, FlightPath builds on Hartwick's long history of integrating broad-based studies with experiential learning.

Hartwick College is a nationally ranked independent college of the arts and sciences located in picturesque Oneonta, NY, in the northern foothills of the Catskill Mountains. The College offers 35 courses of study leading to a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree, two master's degrees in the sciences, and a graduate certificate in nursing education. For more information, visit www.Hartwick.edu.