George Mason University Athletics

Patriots Open Season with Promising Start at Spider Open

George Mason Athletics Men's Cross Country 9/3/2016 3:46:00 PM

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. – Paced by a strong showing by Ciara Donohue, the George Mason women's and men's cross country teams started the 2016 season with promising results.

Donohue finished seventh, Amber Hawkins was 13 seconds behind in 19th and Luke Sharkey led the men with a 16th-place finish as the Patriots got going with the Spider Alumni Open on Saturday at Pole Green Park.

Both the men and the women finished fourth in the team results. The men ran a 5K and the women competed on a two-mile course. Both are shorter distances compared to what the Patriots will be running by the end of the season. But the meet allowed Mason to compete at Pole Green Park, where the Atlantic 10 Championships will be held in October. The Patriots also competed against several A-10 schools – Davidson, Massachusetts, Richmond and VCU – on Saturday.

“For the men, it was a good start,” head coach Andrew Gerard said. “We competed a pretty skeletal crew and, literally, the opening mile was the fastest we've run all season so far. But I think they handled it pretty well. It is hard to read into a 5K too much because the race is so short and the differences between racers is so small. For the women, I think Amber and Ciara did a very nice job mixing it up with the significant placers from the other A-10 schools and our newcomers stepped in nicely.

“We saw good progress from the returning racers – comparing year-to-year – so I'm generally pleased. We have a long way to go toward the championships, but we're on the right track.”

Donohue, a sophomore from Purcellville, Va., finished the two-mile race in 11:10.9. Hawkins, competing in her first season of cross country at Mason after transferring from Houston last year, was right behind. The junior from Winchester, Va., finished in a time of 11:23. Freshmen Kyla Carte (11:41.9), Sarah Richart (11:59.7) and Khalilah Hammer (12:14.7) rounded out Mason's top five.

On the men's side, Sharkey, a junior from Fairfax, led the way by taking 16th in a time of 15:39.2 on the 5K course. Finishing just seven seconds part to round out the Patriots' top five were sophomores Dustin Jutras (15:59.3), Jonathan Schloth (15:59.9), senior Brent Coulter (16:05.4) and sophomore Trent Lancaster (16:06.7).

The Patriots return to action next Saturday with the James Madison Invitational in New Market, Va.

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