Women's Cross Country | 10/12/2018 9:02:00 PM

Final Results

PRINCETON, N.J. – The George Mason women's cross country team showed it was up to the challenge at its final tuneup before the beginning of championship season.

The Patriots placed fourth at the Princeton Invitational on Friday at West Windsor Fields. In a tough field featuring three nationally ranked teams, Mason finished ahead of host and No. 29 Princeton (ninth), along with Power Five conference opponents Maryland of the Big Ten (fifth) and South Carolina of the Southeastern Conference (eighth).

The men also had a strong showing, finishing seventh – ahead of eight regionally ranked programs.

"Overall, a successful day - both teams got good things done and also helped define a couple things we need to do better," head coach Andrew Gerard said. "The women executed overall very well. They found good spots early in the race and then either fought to maintain them or moved up well. We can, however, still tighten our spread and close up a couple of gaps within our scorers. For the men, a couple guys got out a little too aggressively and then did not manage the fatigue that comes with an aggressive start very well. Conversely, a couple guys got out a bit too far back and came forward well but were digging out from pretty far back."

The women tallied a score of 180 – 20 points ahead of regionally ranked Maryland – and behind only No. 6 Villanova (first, 21 points), No. 17 Columbia (second, 38) and regionally ranked Temple (third, 107). The Patriots were led by freshman Siobhra O'Flaherty for the second straight race. The native of Carlow, Ireland, paced the team, placing 18th with a time of 21:48.4 on the 6K course.

Senior Ciara Donohue finished 30 seconds behind in 30th place with a time of 22:18.2. Junior Margaret Morgan was close behind in 36th, with a time of 22:27.8. Junior Khalilah Hamer took 39th in 22:33.1. Senior Carolyn Conley rounded out Mason's top five, placing 69th in 22:57.2.

On the men's side, the Patriots registered a score of 248. Graduate student Trent Lancaster led the team for the second straight race, finishing 29th in 24:48.7 in the 8K race. Senior Jonathan Schloth placed 39th with a time of 24:56.6. Graduate student Dustin Jutras finished 62nd in 25:16.9. Three teammates crossed the line within nine tenths of a second – junior Ethan Newland (25:20.9, 66th), junior Thomas Amabile (25:21.6, 67th) and sophomore Hunter Jutras (25:21.8, 68th).

Both teams return to action for the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships on Oct. 27 in Mechanicsville, Va.