Women's Cross Country | 9/7/2017 3:26:00 PM

FAIRFAX, Va. – The traveling contingency expands for the George Mason men's and women's cross country teams this weekend.

After opening the season by taking just a small gathering to the Spider Alumni Open, the Patriots will carry a larger crew into the James Madison Invitational on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m., at the New Market Battlefield in New Market, Virginia.

The women will race a 5.2K course and the men will compete on an 8K course. Both courses match up more with what the teams will see the rest of the season. Last weekend, though, at the Spider Alumni Open in Mechanicsville, Virginia, each ran a shorter distance, with the women running two miles and the men competing on a 5K.

Mason head coach Andrew Gerard said the longer distances this weekend will offer a better measuring stick of where the Patriots are as most of their training has been focused on longer distances. In addition, many of Mason's top returners for both the men and the women will be in action for the first time of the season.

"We'll open up a few more people," head coach Andrew Gerard said. "While we got our feet wet last weekend with short course stuff, this weekend, with the longer course, the full distance, it will give it a little better feel. This weekend will be a little better gage of where we are. It matches better with how we have been training to be with the correct race distance at this point."

Last weekend, the Patriots finished third in both the men's and women's team results. Both sides for Mason featured runners making their collegiate cross country debuts along with a few upperclassmen. Redshirt sophomore Ethan Newland led the men by placing 18th (16:01.7) on the 5K course and freshman Riley Freeland paced the women with a 22nd-place finish (11:52.9) on a two-mile course.

"It was a good start," Gerard said. "The freshman got the first-race jitters out. A few of the upperclassmen who had improved summers that showed up. A few folks who needed to get some work done still that was revealed as well. But this weekend will be a little bit better. Our training is just a little bit more in-tune with the longer stuff right now so I think we will show a little better this weekend."