George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Mount St. Mary's Invitational
Freshmen Pace Colonials at Mount St. Mary's
9/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 2, 2006
EMMITSBURG, MD - The George Washington University men's and women's cross country teams opened their 2006 season, opting to hold out many of the returning runners, Friday evening at the Mount St. Mary's Invitational on the Mountaineer's campus. The incoming freshman class gained valuable experience on both sides as Meaghan Smith (Arlington H.S./Pleasant Valley, NY) and Caitlin Lowery (Oak Hall H.S./Gainesville, FL) paced the women, finishing in eighth and ninth place respectively. The men were also paced by freshmen as Andrew Coleman (Cumberland H.S./Cumberland, RI) led the Colonials with an 18th place finish, and Stephen Rutgers (Murrietta Valley H.S./Murrietta, CA) who came in shortly after in 25th place.
The meet, which featured several schools from the Baltimore-Washington area including, Loyola, UMBC, American and host school Mount St. Mary's, featured a dual-scoring format, meaning each team had an individual match up against each other based on their top five performances.
Even though the Colonials did not pick up a victory, Head Coach Brian Beil was pleased with his team's performance. "Given their training right now and the conditions on the course, I'm pleased with how we handled our business today. Their training didn't slow down at all leading up to this, so they were racing on very tired legs. It's still very early and my runners all realize that these early meets don't count for anything, so we'll continue to work straight through them until October."
On the women's side, four freshmen made up the top five. Smith finished with a time of 20:36.26, while Lowery clocked a 20:41.58 on the 5K course. Freshman Kelly Wills (Sycamore H.S./Cincinnati, OH) finished third for GW with a 14th place overall finish in 21:23.14. Junior Katie Walsh (Dover H.S./Dover, DE) and freshman Erica Freebury (Palos Verdes Peninsula H.S./Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) rounded out the top five, finishing in 27th and 28th place respectively with times of 22:04.12 and 22:06.76.
For the men, Coleman, in his collegiate debut, paced the Colonials with a time of 17:01.51. Rutgers followed with a mark of 17:25.69, sophomore Keith Moody (Spruce Creek H.S./Orange, FL) was 29th in 17:38.37, sophomore Chris Pisano (Toms River North H.S./Toms River, NJ) was 31st in 17:45.73 and junior John Woodside (Edmond Memorial H.S./Edmond, OK) rounded out the top five for the men with a 34th place finish in 17:50.01.
GW's harriers are back in action on Saturday, September 9 at 10:00 am, when they travel to Hunt Valley, MD to compete in the Towson Invitational.
