EMMITTSBURG, Md. - George Mason women's cross country started its season off well with a third place performance, using the dual-scoring format, in the Mount St. Mary's 5K Duals on Friday afternoon.  

Mason had three runners place in the top-10 of the event, led by junior Rochelle Sceats who finished second overall with a time of 18:16.79.

"We had a solid race today," said Associate Head Coach Sita Waru-Ewell.  "Rochelle did a great job up front and we had a couple of freshman - Heather Selheimer and Peyton Lowe who did a nice job to finish in our top-5."

Selheimer finished with the second-best time for Mason and fifth overall, completing the course in 18:47.16.  Sophomore Victoria Samyn rounded out the top-10 finishers for the Patriots, ending the race in ninth place with a time of 19:03.11.

Senior Nao Ma and Lowe both finished in the top 20 overall with 16^th and 18^th place finishes, respectively.

The race was won by Octavia Rinehardt of American University with a time of 18:02.99.  American won the event with a 6-0 record, followed by University of Maryland, whose 5-1 record narrowly edged out Mason at 4-2.   UMBC (3-3), Mount St. Mary's (2-4), St. Bonaventure (1-5) and George Washington (0-6) rounded out the last four competing schools in the standings.

"The race was a good start for our season, and now we are looking at progressing and being ready for the end of the season," added Ewell.

The George Mason men's cross country team will kick off their season next Saturday, September 10^th, with the James Madison Invitational.  The next competition for the women will be on Saturday, September 17^th, in the Delaware Invitational.