Nov. 21, 2009
Men's Results | Women's Results
NEW YORK, N.Y. -
George Mason closed out its 2009 cross country schedule by racing at the ECAC/IC4A Championships on Saturday morning at Van Cortlandt Park in New York, N.Y. The men's team raced to a third-place finish in the IC4A Championship race, while the women's team finished 11th in the University race.
Sophomore Everett Hackett led the way for the Patriot men by taking the individual title on the 8k course. Hackett ran to a time of 25:22.30 to win the race over second-place finisher Chris Tyson of William and Mary. With his first-place finish, Hackett earned IC4A All-East honors. Joining Hackett on the All-East Team were Michael Pachella and James Burns, who finished 17th and 21st, respectively.
"We were really pleased with the day overall. The guys are learning that we don't have to have a perfect day as a team or feel great individually to have good results," said George Mason Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Andrew Gerard. "As a team we moved up from 12th last year at this meet to finish our year taking home a trophy - that's solid progress. Individually, we had three guys earn All-East including James Burns, who finishes his career on a nice high note, and Everett Hackett, who had a really nice breakthrough. To be Mason's first IC4A cross country champion in the 110-year history of this race is a great accomplishment and a really nice cap to an outstanding year!"
George Mason finished with 113 team points to take third place. Duke won the race with 41 points. William and Mary took second place with a total of 67 points.
Mason's women's team finished 11th in the 5k University race with 297 team points. The women were led by a pair of top-five finishers in Rochelle Sceats and Laura Sinclair.
Sceats was the runner-up in the race to Brenae Edwards of Mansfield University. Sceats crossed the finish line in 17:33.40. Sinclair followed close behind, finishing in fourth place with a time of 17:45.60.
"This was a good race for us to end our cross country season," said George Mason Associate Head Coach of Track and Field/Cross Country Sita Waru-Ewell. "We had quite a few girls run their fastest 5k times today."
With the 2009 cross country season complete, George Mason begins its 2010 indoor track and field schedule on Jan. 9 with the Father Diamond Invitational.
