The women’s and men’s cross country team suffered a tough loss to Lehigh last week by scores of 15-50 and 16-47, respectively. Two Leopards on the women’s team, juniors Caroline Harmon and Emily Moore, finished in the top ten in the dual meet, with senior Kelvin Serem finishing in the top ten for the men’s team.

Coming off a strong finish in the first meet of the year, the team was poised to turn a few heads in their performance against Lehigh.

“We were expecting them to push the pace a little bit, and I think the best thing about it is that at 5 kilometers, they were still smiling like ‘oh, they’re still with us?’” Serem said.

The same held true for the women’s team. Following their third place finish at the first meet of the year, the Leopards wanted to keep the momentum.

“The meet went pretty well for the team,” Moore said. “We had a lot of strong performances from our runners, and I think that the results of the meet don’t really show how good our team is. I think we’re really strong.”

The results may not have been perfect, but it inspired optimism as the men’s and women’s teams have plenty of room to grow, according to Moore.

“Our goal this year at the Patriot Leagues is to beat a few more teams than we did last year, and I think we have a pretty good chance at doing that,” she said. “As a whole, our top group is looking a lot stronger than our top group was last year.”

For Serem, his goal for his last season is to lead the team to regionals.

“Most of our guys sacrifice a lot. I am very proud of them, and the leadership is good,” he said. “Also, I’m excited to finish in a very strong way, thinking of all the injuries, the times I wasn’t doing well, and to focus on the positive side.”

The Leopards look to trend upward, starting with a Sept 16 trip to the Monmouth Invite.