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Welcome to the Home of the Eight-Time
MAC Champions
1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006!

Middle Atlantic Conference Champions...

The men's cross country team won the Middle-Atlantic Conference title in 1965...34 years later in 1999...the men of ECXC won again. For the next eight-straight years the Blue Jays went on to defend that title, thus becoming the winningest sports team in Elizabethtown College history.

The Elizabethtown College men's cross country team won conference titles in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 before the streak finally came to an end in October, 2007.  For 41 years, ETown had only produced five All-MAC harriers.  Since 1999, ETown has produced an additional 35 All-MAC harriers.  ETown has had two MAC Cross Country Champions (Dave Berdan '04 in 2001 and Dustin Scott '03 in 2002).  A grand total of 68 All-Conference performances have been achieved over the past ten years with the entire top seven (varsity cross country team) achieving the honor in '99, '01, '02, '04, '05, and '08 with the high water mark coming in '04 when nine ETown harriers finished in the top 20 at the MAC Championships!  In 2005, unranked ETown beat nationally-ranked Widener University by a single point at the MAC Cross Country Championships.  With victory secured, the men's cross country team became the winningest sports program in school history (men's soccer won conference championships from 1962-67)!

Advancement to the national championships requires a top five team finish (out of 43 teams) at the Mideast Regional Championships, which occurs two weeks after the MAC Championships.  The ETown men have finished in the top five at regionals eight times since 1999.  The most recent top five finish came in November, 2008.  The Blue Jays started the season ranked outside the top 10 of the region and finished in fifth place at the Mideast Regional Championships and #34 in the U.S. among NCAA Division III men’s cross country teams.  They narrowly missed getting an at-large bid to the 2008 NCAA Division III Championships.  However, with four freshmen and one sophomore in the varsity line-up at the 2008 Mideast Regional Championships, the return to the national scene in the coming years looks promising. 

Perennial NCAA Division III Championship Appearances…

ETown's highest-ever finish at the NCAA Division III Championships was 14th in 2001 with other team finishes of 24th (1999) and 15th (2002 and 2004).  Either the men's cross country team or an individual has represented Elizabethtown College at every NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship from 1999-2006.  Dustin Scott '03 (14th in 2001) became Elizabethtown College's first-ever All-American in the sport of cross country with Steve Sanko '05 (27th in 2004) and Jose Miranda '05 (31st in 2004) becoming the second and third-ever men to achieve the honor a few years later. The 2002 men's cross country squad had the highest cumulative GPA (3.54) of any NCAA Division III men's cross country program in the United States. 

Training Philosophy & Venues…

Coach Christopher Straub serves as the Director of Cross Country and Track & Field at Elizabethtown College and is in his eleventh year at ETown.  Training for distance and middle-distance runners is individualized with an emphasis on gradual and progressive aerobic development.  The team takes full advantage of the beautiful natural environment in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  The distance runners often run on the backcountry roads that traverse the woodlands and farms that surround The College.  They also frequently train on the many soft surfaces within a 20 minute drive of campus including the crushed limestone of the 20-mile long Conewago Rail-Trail and the 900m loop in Maytown's Fuhrman Park, the 30 miles of dirt trails around idyllic Mt. Gretna and alongside the Susquehanna River, and the rolling grass pathways of Nissley Vineyards and the Elizabethtown Fairgrounds.  

Contact Coach Straub at straubce@etown.edu