FAIRFAX, Va. – With the calendar flipped to September, the George Mason men's and women's cross country teams will get their first crack at competition this fall.
The Patriots open the season on Saturday with the Spider Alumni Open, hosted by the University of Richmond, at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va. The race will provide a dress rehearsal of sorts as the Atlantic 10 Conference Cross Country Championships will also be held at Pole Green Park on Oct. 29.
On Saturday, though, the courses will be much shorter. The men will run a 5K, starting at 9:10 a.m. The women will follow at 9:45 a.m. with a two-mile race.
With both Mason teams accumulating more miles and gearing up for longer distance races later in the season, head coach Andrew Gerard views this weekend as more of a tuneup.
“It is a chance to see the conference meet course,” he said. “It is a chance for everybody to get their feet wet and get going. But we're not going to bank too much on these results.”
The men's team comes into the season predicted to finish fifth at the Atlantic 10 Championships (they finished fifth in 2015). They are also ranked 14th in the Southeast Region preseason rankings.
Last year's A-10 individual champ Steven Flynn has exhausted his cross country eligibility and Stuart Lampen-Crowell, who finished 33rd at the conference meet, has graduated. But Gerard is optimistic about the team's potential and depth.
Sophomore Grayson Morgan returns after being named the A-10's Most Outstanding Rookie for finishing 19th at last year's A-10 Championship. He also had a strong outdoor track season, taking second in the 10,000-meter run at the conference championships.
Junior Logan Miller is back after placing 27th at last year's conference meet. Seniors Adam LaFemina and Brent Coulter bring in experience and are on the heels of encouraging track seasons.
Gerard also expects juniors Paul Adam and Trent Lancaster to be in the mix. The pair showed promise after taking sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the A-10 Outdoor Track Championships.
“If you look at how everybody ran in track last year, I think we have certainly an even stronger group than last year back this year,” Gerard said. “It will be different. I think we are going to be a much tighter group (in pack running) and a much closer group. But we'll be keying off guys that are certainly credible. I think it will be interesting to see how we do. It will be a different kind of race plan but it will be a very effective one.”
On the women's side, Gerard views this season as part of a building process. The women took 11th at the A-10 Championships in 2015. This year, they were picked to finish 10th in the A-10 Conference coaches preseason poll.
Sophomore Ciara Donohue leads the way as she is the team's top A-10 returning finisher (46th). She also stepped up during her freshman year in track, finishing ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 5,000- and 1,500-meter runs. Fellow sophomore Carolyn Conley also returns after a strong freshman season, which ended in track with back-to-back 10th-place finishes at the A-10 Championships and IC4A/ECAC Championships.
Senior Amber Hawkins did not run cross country last fall after transferring from Houston. But she is expected to be up in the pack, especially after a solid track season in which she finished ninth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the A-10 Championships. Her time of 11:11.05 in the steeplechase earlier in the season places her at No. 2 on the school's all-time list for the event.
With the trio of Donohue, Conley and Hawkins leading the way, Gerard hopes a mix of upperclassmen and newcomers can help the Patriots consistently make progress.
“It is a building process and this will be the first step for it,” Gerard said. “I'm excited to see what the women can accomplish. There is a little bit longer term developing plan. It is going to focus on A, being better than they were individually. Then, B, being hopefully better as a group than we were last year.”
