Delaware club cross country ended its 2021 fall season on a high note over the weekend at NIRCA’s National Championship in Shelbyville, Indiana. It marked the team’s first in-person nationals meet since the fall of 2019.

Despite a slightly longer course of about 200 meters, both squads put up impressive performances in the championship and class races.

Junior Alex Horgan led the way for the men with a top 10 finish in the championship race with an official time of 25:24.6. Horgan went out aggressively in a 4:54 first mile with a pack of runners from schools including Michigan, Illinois and the 2021 club national champions Northeastern. Throughout the race Horgan averaged a pace of just under 5:07 per mile.

Horgan’s sixth place finish earned him first-team All-American honors.

As a whole, the men finished 26th with all seven of its runners going under the thirty-minute mark. Bryant Cordova ended his season with another sub-28 minute performance finishing in 115th place with a time of 27:27. The Hens put their next two runners Sasha Latina (28:08.9) and Paul Filipow (28.31.7) in the sub-29 minute club. 

The Hens’ young core of sophomores Daniel Giron (29:09.5) and Cam Harrington (29:29.5) took the fifth and sixth spots among the top seven runners. Will Taylor rounded out the final spot for the team in a gutsy performance after replacing Schuyler Reed prior to the race. Reed did not compete in the championship race due to a foot injury. Taylor crossed the line with a time of 29:51.6.

The women’s squad finished its season with another impressive team performance coming off its third place finish at the NIRCA Mid-Atlantic Regionals and Princeton Invitational. The women placed 12th in Indiana. It marks the fourth straight time the women finished in the top 20 and the best overall finish in that same time period since the team placed 13th in 2017.

The Blue Hens were led by a trio of seniors in Bailey Davin, Allison Einig and Talia Brookstein-Burke who spiked up for their last time as members of the club cross country team. Davin took 38th place with a time of 24:03.9. Einig and Brookstein-Burke continued to work off each other as they have most of the season. The pair placed within four spots of each other with Einig clocking in at 24:38.3 and Brookstein-Burke finishing with a time of 24:41.4.

The Blue Hens ultimately placed four of its five runners within one minute of each other as Leena Saidi (25.28.3) and Jenna Mlecko (25:32.5) rounded out the scoring five for Delaware. Lauren Pollock (27:23.8) and Madeleine Dorely (27:32.3) took the sixth and seventh spots and finished within eight seconds of each other.

In the class races, a total of five athletes ran on an XC course one last time as Blue Hens. Senior Kendra Cutler served as the only woman to compete in the upperclassmen race. She finished her Blue Hen cross country career with a time of 29:19.2 and took home 61st place.

Seniors Tim Fenton, Schuyler Reed, Mike Noble and fifth-year member Matt Ward represented the men’s side of things. Fenton led the way with a time of 30:46 with Ward following shortly behind in a time of 31:16.1. Despite the foot injury for Reed and a rib issue for Noble, the two finished in times of 32:28.4 and 35:26.9 respectively.

Delaware’s underclassmen rounded out the afternoon with Aubra Sharp (29:47.6) finishing in 59th place in the women’s race. The men’s underclassmen race saw six of Delaware’s eight total runners finish within 30 seconds of each other with Thomas McAdoo leading the charge with a time of 30:47.9.

The end of cross country marks the beginning of the winter and spring track seasons. Delaware track and field is set to compete on Dec. 3 at the Fastrack Season Opener in Staten Island for the first time since December of 2019.