Tartans Tie WashU for UAA Championship

(ATLANTA, Ga.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's cross country team earned its second straight University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship on Saturday, October 29 when seven members of the team finished in the top 18 to earn 58 points. The Tartans tied Washiington University in St. Louis for the team title as the Bears also tallied 58 points.

The Tartans were led by junior Ryan Auld (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) who finished fifth overall in a time of 25:02.58 along the 8k course at McIntosh Reserve Park hosted by Emory University. Senior Ryan Archer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Vincentian Academy) was next to finish the race for the Tartans when he did in 25:08.84 for 11th place.

Senior Curtis Watro (Audubon, Pa./Methacton) led a group of four Tartans to finish one after another in 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th place. Watro crossed the finish line in 25:15.26. Sophomore Jared Moore (Beaver Dams, N.Y./Corning-Painted Post) finished in 25:16.13, freshman Edward Goebel (Abington, Pa./La Salle College) was next in 25:16.93 and sophomore Paul Fleming (Sharon, Mass./Sharon) was the fourth in 25:17.93.

Sophomore Aadi Mhatre (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) was the seventh Tartan to finish the race as he was one place and less than two seconds behind Fleming for 18th place in 25:19.47.

Auld earned All-UAA First Team for his place while Archer, Watro and Moore garnered second-team honors. Goebel was the first freshman to finish the race and earned UAA Rookie of the Year. His honor marks the second consecutive Rookie of the Year honor for the Tartans as sophomore William Mitchell (Chatham, N.J./Chatham), who finished Saturday's race 23rd overall, was last year's honoree.

Head coach Tim Connelly and assistant coach Adam Colorito were named UAA Men's Coaching Staff of the Year. The honor was the second straight for Connelly.

The Tartans will next race in the NCAA Mideast Regional hosted by DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, November 12.