George Washington University Athletics
1999 Outlook
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Men's Team |
Leading the men during the fall campaign will be seniors Jeff McCarthy and Dan Uriano, with help from junior Mike Donaldson. McCarthy finished 22nd at the IC4A/ECAC Championships, while Uriano was GW's top conference finisher with a 20th-place finish at the Atlantic 10 Championships. Donaldson enters his junior year in the strong form he displayed as a freshman. The three upperclassmen will be bolstered by the steady improvement of junior James Moniz and Laurin Fedora and the expected immediate impact of newcomers David Talbird and Matt Kusack. With contributions from a deep freshmen class that includes Chris Zurich, Dan Emmerson, Nathan Edwards and Adam Stern and the addition of transfer-student, Dan Sweet, the Colonial men are expected to be more competitive in the Conference championship meet in 1999.
Though the women lose their top two runners, Amanda Roebel and Lisa Faia, to graduation, Coach Hopkins still has plenty of talent returning. He will be relying on strong performances from senior Julie Ann Laurance, junior Erin Farrelly and sophomores Ruth Michel and Paige Simms to lead the Colonial women. Coach Hopkins also will get help from sophomores Eileen Kickish and Jenee Peterson who return for the 1999 season after injury-plagued freshman years. With steady improvements from juniors Brande Dietrich and Jessica Bradley and sophomores Colleen O'Rourke, Sarah Traynor and Christina Perotta, in addition to a group of talented newcomers - Yumi Cosbert, Mackenzie Jessen, Kastle Cannon, Erin Davis and Leanne Lee, the 1999 squad should produce another exciting season for GW.
Women's Team |
For the third consecutive year, the Colonials will host the George Washington University Invitational at scenic Bull Run Park in Centreville, VA. The Invitational provides GW the opportunity to run in a home meet against competitive area schools. After having success in the 1997 and 1998 meets, the Colonials should repeat their solid home performance in 1999.
As the team has excelled on the trails, they also have excelled in the classroom. Junior Nathan Converse was selected to the GTE Academic All-America District II University Division At-Large second team and to the Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference team. Converse will be studying in Oxford, England next season on an academic-exchange program. The GW men's and women's teams posted an overall GPA of 3.19 and 3.42, respectively, for the 1998-1999 season. Both teams were selected to the United States Cross Country Coaches Academic All-America Division I Teams with the men posting a ranking of 28th in the country and the women posting an 8th-place ranking. Ten members of the men's team and 11 members of the women's team were selected to the 1998 Atlantic 10 Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll.