FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason men's and women's cross country teams begin their 2014 seasons on Saturday, August 30 as they open competition at the Duquesne Duals at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The event will mark the second season for Mason cross country as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Both the men's and women's squads look forward to an exciting season for new and returning athletes.
The men, tabbed to finish fifth in the preseason Atlantic 10 rankings, look to improve on an impressive third-place finish in the conference last season. Capping off a successful season, the men finished third at the ECAC Championships and earned an ECAC team trophy.
An All-A10 honoree last year with his 11th place finish, fifth-year senior Michael Conway returns for his senior campaign ready to lead the squad once again. As the Patriots top finisher at all three championship cross country races last year and scoring at the A10 Championships in the 5K (All-A10, indoor 5K) and 10K, he will be looked to for leadership both on and off the course.
Sophomores Steven Flynn and Adam LaFemina also return for the Patriots after gaining valuable A-10 Championship experience last season in their first year. Stuart Lampen-Crowell returns after a year off from cross country but was a key scorer at the All-CAA level in 2012. Crowell also garnered All-A10 honors last spring in the 1500m, finishing third at the Outdoor Championships. Senior James Luehrs is back after racing five times last season, including a top ten finish at the Mason Invitational but the highlight of his year was a scoring performance at 5000m at the Indoor A10 Championships.
Ryan McGreal, and James Poyer will also bring upperclassmen maturity to the team this season. Marcus Hatchett, Logan Miller, Joshua Parshall, and David Zion Gregory will be other Patriots to watch this year, but all have a year under their belt, having redshirted the '13 cross country campaign. Mason also welcomes six newcomers to the team, including: Paul Adam, Trent Lancaster, Grayson Morgan, Jonathan Schloth, and David Strickland. Brent Coulter, a transfer from Indiana University, will also don the Green and Gold for the first time.
The women return to action after placing eighth in the A-10 last season and fifth in the ECAC Championships. Defending A-10 Cross Country Champion, Bethany Sachtleben returns to Mason for her senior season. Sachtleben is coming off a very successful 2013 season, after finishing first for Mason in all six events in which she raced. Sachtleben also won two other events, including the Mason Invitational and the ECAC Championship 5k on her way to a trifecta of All-Conference, All-Region, and All-ECAC honors.
Redshirt junior Jennifer Nakamura is also coming off a very impressive 2013 season. Nakamura raced in seven events, including a first-place finish for Mason in the Spider Alumni Open two mile run. The junior also posted a third place overall finish at the Mason Invitational, but really hit her stride in the spring, scoring at the A10 in the steeplechase, in route to a new school record in the event.
Seniors Lauren Givens and Peyton Lowe also bring experience and leadership to the Patriots this season. Givens and Lowe ran in a combined 11 races for the Green and Gold last year. Also returning for Mason are juniors Victoria Doss, Siobhan Klie, and Katie Treichel. Heather Selheimer and Kathryn Eder will be other Patriots to watch this season.
Mason also welcomes newcomers Suzanne Abribat, Raquel Fossett, Bailey Kolonich, Kelsie Rohler, and Keri Sachtleben.
"We're really excited for the season to begin," says Director of T&F and XC Andrew Gerard. "Both squads have great energy right now but are coming from slightly different angles. The women return all the key pieces from last year, add a couple of new, impact athletes and, having gotten a year of A10 competition under their belt, are very motivated to move up. The men graduated several athletes who had been with our program for a long time, but, knowing that, we had the luxury of allowing a lot of our youngest athletes to red-shirt last cross country season and now we get to plug them back in a year older, a year stronger and a year hungrier. They need some experience but several will step in right away and I think we have the potential to be better than last years' squad with a very young line-up."
After competing in the Duquesne Duals on Saturday in an Atlantic 10 Championship course preview, the Patriots will then compete at the James Madison Invitational on September 13 at New Market Battlefield in New Market, Va.
The Green and Gold will host the annual Mason Invitational on Saturday, October 4 at the Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg, Va. This will mark the fifth straight season Mason will host the event at the Oatlands.
The last race to gear up before the Atlantic 10 Championship will be the Princeton Invitational, held at Princeton Battlefield in Princeton, N.J. on October 18. The A-10 Championships will be hosted by Duquesne and will be held on Saturday, November 1 at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The NCAA SE Regional Championships will return, after two years at other sites, to E.P. Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, KY on November 14. Scheduled on the same date, both the NCAA and IC4A/ECAC Championships will take place on November 22 with the NCAAs at the LaVerne Gibson course in Terre Haute, IN, while the IC4A/ECAC will be conducted at its traditional site at Van Cortlandt Park in New York, NY.
