Mechanicsville, Va. - Junior Steven Flynn was the fastest runner in the 8-kilometer men's race of the Atlantic 10 Championships and helped his team finish fifth overall on Saturday morning.
Flynn enjoyed a strong start and kept his composure throughout the entire race to finish with a time of 24:21.1 and left the closeset of all other 125 runners at the Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va. - senior Benjamin Groleau of Massachusetts - 20 seconds behind.
"I'm thrilled for Steven - he's our second individual A-10 champion in three years after Bethany Sachtleben was first in 2013," said Andrew Gerard, head coach for the men's team.
Flynn, however, was the only Mason runner among the first 18 runners, which prevented the Patriots from getting fewer than 120 points and left last year's champions in fifth place out of 14 teams. Saint Joseph's claimed the title with two top-five finishes and 77 points. Massachusetts used Groleau's and two additional top-20 finishes to grab second place with 98 points. Davidson finished third with 103 points, just three ahead of La Salle, who finished one spot ahead of the Patriots in the final standings.
Redshirt freshman Grayson Morgan was the Patriots' second fastest finisher with a time of 25:07.6, which was good enough for 19th place and the Rookie of the Year honor, first for Mason in the A-10 era.
Following the event, Gerard preferred to look ahead of the Southeast regional race rather than dwell on the could- and should-have's of the finished race.
"We know we can run better," he said. "The race went out hard and we panicked a bit and did not move forward like we were capable of and the points reflected it. We'll learn the lesson, regroup and get ready for regionals in two weeks."
Right after that, sophomore Bailey Kolonich enjoyed a great second half of the women's 5-kilometer race to finish 23rd with a time of 18:04.1 and lead the Patriots, who finished 11th as a team with 237 points.
Event host Richmond beat out last year's winner Duquesne with one point to finish on top with 87 points and four top-20 finishes. La Salle, Massachusetts and George Washington completed the top five.
Senior Jennifer Nakamura (42nd - 18:28.0) and freshman Ciara Donohue (46th - 18:32.3) were the other two Patriots of the 10-runner Mason team who finished inside the top 50.
NEXT ON THE SCHEDULE
The two teams will alternate rest and training for the next two weeks before they head to Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Va. for the Southeast Regional Championships, which will be held on Nov. 13.
