The men's cross country team finished first overall in the A (Gold 8K) and B (Open 8K) races today in the Blue Ridge Open at Appalachian State University.  The women's team only competed in the Gold 5K race and placed 11^th overall.  This race marked both team's last race before the CAA Championships in two weeks. 

The men were led in the Gold race by four runners placing in the top ten overall.  Junior Robert Reynolds led the charge for Mason with his fourth place finish and time of 25:13.2.  He was followed closely by sophomore Alex Zyryanov's sixth place finish (25:22.4), the seventh place finish of junior Philip Blankenship (25:25.5) and junior Parker Boudreau who finished the race in tenth place (25:31.7).

"Obviously, we were very pleased with the win today but developmentally, how we raced was probably more important," said Head Coach Andrew Gerard.  "We had a very solid pack that worked well together deep into the race. Since this is literally the first time we've raced our whole lineup together, I was very pleased how we came together."

In the Open race, Mason applied the same racing strategy to perfection, placing all five competing runners in the top 10 overall.  Freshman Stuart Lampen-Crowell finished first overall with a time of 26:28.3, sophomore Kieran Hennessy and junior Jason Hartman finished third and fourth respectively with times of 26:52.2 and 27:08.7.  Freshman James Luehrs (27:35.6) and junior Jacob Morgan (28:24.3) rounded out the top 10 for Mason with their sixth and ninth place respective finishes.

For the women, senior Nao Ma was the top finisher placing 36^th overall with a time of 19.17.0.  "We struggled today as a team," said Associate Head Coach Sita Waru-Ewell.  "We certainly didn't end up with the results we were looking for.  Hopefully we can regroup and freshen up for the CAA Championship in two weeks."

Both teams will have next week off in preparation for the CAA Championships on Saturday, October 29^th at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.