FAIRFAX, Va. – After a three-week hiatus, the George Mason men's and women's cross country teams are ready to jump back into action – on their home course.
The Patriots venture about 25 miles north to Oatlands Plantations in Leesburg, Va., to host the Mason Invitational on Saturday. Mason welcome seven schools (seven men's teams and five women's squads) as the women's 6K race will start at 10 a.m., with the men's 8K race to follow at 10:45 a.m.
This will be the seventh straight year the Patriots have hosted the meet at Oatlands Plantation, which is operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“It's a beautiful spot and we certainly like the course,” George Mason head coach Andrew Gerard said. “It is different in some respects than the other courses you run because it is some rolling terrain. Has some decent hills in it. It is not a pancake. It is not your manicured golf course type running. It is a pretty legit, real cross country course versus some of the more sterile, flatter courses. The team really likes this one.”
Both teams last competed three weeks ago at the James Madison Invitational on Sept. 10.
The men won their first team title of the season, taking first thanks to five runners finishing in the top 10. The Patriots, ranked 13th in the latest USTFCCCA Southeast Region rankings, were paced by seniors Adam LaFemina (third) and Brent Coulter (fourth). The women finished third as a team, led by junior Amber Hawkins, who placed fifth.
While the team hasn't run in a meet in three weeks, their workload hasn't lightened.
“We don't particularly back off with the training,” Gerard said. “They've had some of the hardest weeks of training. We probably have lightened a little bit the last half of this week but even on Monday we had a very good session. They might even still be a little dead legged, a little tired but we've come off a good three weeks where we got a lot of good stuff done. I'm pleased with how both groups have done.”
Last year, the men's and women's teams swept the team titles at the Mason Invitational. The women have finished first at the meet the last three years. This weekend, American, Christendom College, Kent State, Mount St. Mary's and Norfolk State will bring both men's and women's team. Bowie State and Navy will only travel women's teams.
With the calendar turning to October, the Patriots are entering the crux of their schedule. After this weekend, they'll run every other weekend up to the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Nov. 11. After the Mason Invitational, they'll head to the Wake Forest Invitational on Oct. 14, followed by the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships on Oct. 29 and capped off with the Southeast Regional.
Over the next seven weeks, the Patriots hope to continually progress as the competition gets stiffer.
“From this point forward, we've probably popped out of our heaviest training cycle,” Gerard said. “What I've said (to the teams) is that each of these next couple of meets should be progressively better than the last heading into the conference meet. We have two chances to quote, unquote 'do it right' heading into the conference meet. This one is the first one we will probably put the full roster out there, everyone will go to the line and we will run a little more aggressively.”
