Men's Cross Country | 10/11/2018 11:38:00 AM

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FAIRFAX, Va. – With the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships just two weeks away, the George Mason men's and women's cross country teams face their stiffest test yet.

The Patriots head north to compete in the Princeton Invitational on Friday for one final test before championship season begins. Mason will compete in the men's 8K at 4:30 p.m., with the women's 6K to follow at 5 p.m. at West Windsor Fields just outside of Princeton, N.J.

The largest field Mason has faced yet this season features 24 teams: Atlantic 10 foes George Washington, La Salle and Saint Joseph's, along with American, Binghamton, Buffalo, Columbia, Cornell, Hofstra, Lehigh, Maryland, Monmouth, host Princeton, Quinnipiac, Rider, South Carolina, Stony Brook, Temple, Towson, Connecticut, UMass Lowell, UMBC and Villanova.

"It should be some very good competition – from some nationally ranked programs down to some A-10 foes," head coach Andrew Gerard said. "It should provide a good breadth of competition, stretch us at the front."

The women's field features three teams ranked nationally in the top 30 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) coaches poll – No. 6 Villanova, No. 17 Columbia and No. 29 Princeton. Villanova ranks first in the Mid-Atlantic region, with Princeton checking in at third. Columbia ranks first in the Northeast region after jumping up four spots in the poll. 

On the men's side, Princeton, Villanova and Columbia are all receiving votes in the national poll. Villanova (2) and Princeton (3) both rank in the top three in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The Patriots last competed two weeks ago at the Mason Invitational at Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg, with both the men's and women's teams capturing first. This will mark just the third meet of the season for both teams as the Patriots lost a race when the Winthrop Invitational was delayed due to Hurricane Florence in September.

Friday's meet marks the last competition of the regular season. Championship season begins with the A-10 Championships on Oct. 27 in Mechanicsville, Va., followed by the NCAA Southeast Regionals on Nov. 9 in Rock Hill, S.C. and the IC4A/ECAC Championships on Nov. 17 in New York.

So the deep field at the Princeton Invitational will provide the Patriots a high-pressure situation that should prepare them for the final three championship meets of the season. 

"The real thing is you want to take and translate what you have been doing, in terms of race plan, packing, making sure people are connected with each other, and put it into a crucible, put it under pressure and see if it still works," Gerard said. "That is really what the next step is. At the conference meet, you try to execute the plan for racing in a high-pressure situation. (Princeton) is the last one pre-conference, pre-championship season so you want it to go well."