ATHENS, Ohio – West Liberty University distance ace Hannah Kemp is a national champion!
     The two-time Mountain East Conference Cross Country Runner of the Year and All-Region standout led wire-to-wire to post a runaway victory in the Collegiate Running Association's Trail Running National Championship, held within the Thunderbunny 11K course through Strouds Run State Park.
     While temperatures were comfortable in the 60s, a hard rain earlier in the day had created muddy, slippery conditions on the heavily-wooded trails but Kemp said the conditions didn't bother her at all.
     "This was by far the most fun I've ever had in a race," Kemp told reporters afterward. "I've run trails in training but had never done a trail race before so I really didn't know what to expect. Getting in the mud. Going around the turns. I thought it was great conditions even though it's really wet. It was a lot of fun out there."
     Kemp went to the front at the opening gun with a quartet of NCAA Division I runners – the Ohio University trio of Mary Kate McElroy, Jessie Hartman and Madelyn Bartolone along with Illinois' Mikayla Heydt – hot on her heels for the first couple of miles.
     That didn't last long as  Kemp began pulling away near the midway point of the race and never looked back, breezing across the finish line in a course-record time of 50:45.46 – nearly four full minutes ahead of McElroy's runner-up time of 54:27.30. Bartolone and Hartman were the only other female to finish in less than an hour, placing third and fourth, respectively.
     Josh Park, a 2022 NCAA Division I All-Region honoree, won the men's CRA national trail championship in a course-record time of 44:54.05. The University of Richmond's Jordan Bendura edged out OU's Tony Tonkovich for runner-up honors in a photo finish.
       Runner                                                 School                       Hometown                        Time
1. HANNAH KEMP                             WEST LIBERTY         Bethesda, Ohio                50:45.46
2. Mary Kate McElroy                        Ohio University        Whipple, Ohio                   54:27.30
3. Madelyn Bartolone                       Ohio University        Massillon, Ohio                 54:58.66 Runner                                                 School                       Hometown                        Time
1. Josh Park                                          Ohio University        Amherst, Ohio                   44:54.05
2. Jordan Bendura                              Richmond                  Glen Allen, Va.                  45:37.135
3. Tony Tonkovich                              Ohio University        Athens, Ohio                     45:37.144