Tara Smurla, Women's Cross Country - Landmark
Moravian University senior Tara Smurla was named as the Landmark Conference Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week for her performance four times this season.
During the week of August 29-31, Smurla ran a time of 22:12.7 on the 6,000-meter course to lead the Hounds with an eighth place finish out of 87 runners in the Lehigh University Invitational as Moravian placed fifth of seven teams to start the 2025 season. Smurla was the first non-NCAA Division I runner to finish in the race, and the Greyhounds were the top non-NCAA Division I team in the meet.
“Tara was very aggressive in this race, going out in the top three through the first mile to test where she was at,” stated Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Jesse Baumann. “She was eager to see where she stood after an extremely impressive summer of training, and in the end, she wound up being about 20 seconds faster than in the same race last year. We still have a lot of work to do for some of the goals she ultimately has, but it was a very encouraging checkpoint that we’re in a good spot to build from over the next few months before we hopefully return to NCAAs down in South Carolina.”
During the week of September 15-21, Smurla helped the Greyhounds to a fifth-place finish at the Stockton Osprey open as she ran a time of 23:12.89 on the 6,000-meter course to lead the Hounds with an eighth-place individual finish out of 158 runners.
“To be honest, the race could have been appreciably better,” stated Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Jesse Baumann. “Tara took charge of the race around 2k and had about a 50m lead through the 3-mile mark. She was purposefully staying within her limits to make sure she had enough for a finishing surge if needed, and despite this, she became really ill multiple times over the last 1200m to the point that she had to stop and walk. Despite this, and losing well over a minute of time, beyond her control, she still placed in the top 10. We know she had a sub 22:00 race in her had the illness not crept up, so it was actually an encouraging outcome despite the inconvenient setbacks. Her workouts continue to look better than ever, so we know she’s on pace for where she wants her season to go.”
During the week of September 29-October 5, Smurla led the Greyhounds to a 31st place finish in the Paul Short Run White Race at Lehigh University as she finished 23rd of the 403 runners with a season-best time of 21:52.0 on the 6,000-meter course. The honor is Smurla’s third Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week honor this fall.
“Tara had some setbacks in her last race so she took a more cautious approach to Friday to ensure she could finish strong,” commented Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Jesse Baumann. “It likely came at the expense of some of what she could have achieved with her time/overall placement, but in many respects, it served as a confidence booster for her and that she can really hit the gas in her next races moving forwards!”
During the week of October 13-19, Smurla finished fourth of the 295 runners in the 2025 Rowan University Border Battle with a personal best time of 21:34.1 in the 6,000-meter race to lead the Greyhounds to a 12th place finish of 31 teams in the meet. The honor is Smurla’s fourth Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week honor this fall.
“It was a great day for her,” noted Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Jesse Baumann. “She was timid based on how some workouts went this past week and went out a little farther back in the pack than she typically does. However, the field was out a little too quick and came back to Tara, but you still must flip a switch mentally to pick people rather than settle where you are, and she did a phenomenal job of moving up about 15 places from the mile to 3-mile marks. She wound up finishing with a three-second PR when it’s still early in the season and was running with runners who will be in contention for All American honors next month, so it was a very encouraging result for her this weekend!”