George Washington University Athletics
Cross Country Ready for A-10 Championships
10/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 28, 2005
WASHINGTON, DC - The George Washington University men's and women's cross country teams both return to action on Saturday, Oct. 29, at the 2005 Atlantic 10 Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, hosted by La Salle at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia. The men's 8K race will begin at 10 a.m., while the women's 5K race will approximately start at 10:45 a.m. Sophomore Michelle Concannon (LaGrangeville, NY) is the top returning finisher for the Colonials on the women's side, while junior Daniel Morgan (Danville, KY) was the top performer for the men last year.
"I feel good about our chances to improve upon last year's performance at the conference meet," GW second-year head coach Brian Beil said. "We're picked to come in 10th out of 14 schools on both sides, which is an understandable projection from anyone who hasn't been around these teams all year. Those of us who have worked with these runners throughout the year, know that we're much better than a 10th place team, on both sides, and we hope to show that on Saturday."
Coming into this year's men's championship, freshman Chris Pisano (Toms River, NJ) has been the Colonials' top finisher in their last three meets and owns a season-best 8K time of 25:32. In GW's first two meets of the season, Morgan was the Colonials' top performer and he owns a season-best 8K mark of 26:25. Both Pisano and Morgan posted their season's top 8K time at the Paul Short Invitational on Oct. 1.
On the women's side, it has been the emergence of freshman Audrey Hawkins (Barrington, RI) which has led the Colonials at their last two competitions. As GW's top finisher in its last two meets on 6K courses, Hawkins looks to lead the squad at the championship as this will be her first collegiate 5K race. Senior Lindsay Blum (Holland, PA), junior Taylor Leavitt (Turner, ME) and sophomore Mae Polhemus (Boca Raton, FL) have also had solid seasons thus far, and each has been GW's top performer in one of its first three meets.
"The runners are feeling great going into the weekend," Beil stated. "Everyone expects to run new personal bests, even though Belmont Plateau is a far tougher course than any we've run so far this year."
At last year's championships held in Pittsburgh at Schenley Park, the GW women and men finished eighth and 10th, respectively. Concannon returns as the top finisher on the women's side, as she placed 29th overall last year with a time of 19:12. Morgan, meanwhile, placed 44th overall with a mark of 27:47 to pace the men.
The 2005 A-10 Cross Country Championships mark the first two of 21 conference championships to be held this year.
