FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason men's cross country team finished fourth in their 5k run at the Spider Alumni Open on Saturday morning. The women, who ran a two-mile course, also finished fourth. The race was held at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va.
The men were led by senior John Holt, who finished 19th overall with a time of 15:40.9, followed by Sean Nestor and Robert Reynolds who each had an overall finish of 25th and 27th, respectively.
Overall, head coach Andrew Gerard was pleased with today's results and thinks this is just a preview of what the men are capable of in their upcoming races.
"We were pleased with the results today, mainly because we had a very conservative race plan," stated Gerard. "We went out at a very controlled pace as a pack for two miles and picked up the pace in the last mile. I think we did well with our plan, which will serve us well over the coming months. It was a good opener but we've got a lot more in the tank"
The women, who did not run their whole squad, were using this race as experience for their very young team. They were led by freshmen Jennifer Nakamura, who finished 25th overall with a time of 11:31.3., and Katie Triechel who finished 27th in 11:34.1.
"We didn't run our whole squad today so we weren't in full force," noted head coach Sita Waru-Ewell. "It was a good rust breaker for us; we got to see a lot of the freshmen compete for the first time. Jennifer did a nice job for us today up front and Katie also had a solid race to start off her collegiate career."
The men and women head back to the trail September 15th, at the William and Mary Cross Country Invitational in Williamsburg, Va.
