Men's Cross Country | 9/1/2018 4:46:00 PM

Men's Results | Women's Results

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. – The first test proved promising for the George Mason men's and women's cross country teams.

The Patriots opened the season at the Spider Alumni Open hosted by Richmond on Saturday morning at Pole Green Park. The Mason women finished third with 75 points, behind only Richmond (33) and William & Mary (41). The men placed fourth with 78 points. William & Mary (26), Richmond (52) and Davidson (68) rounded out the top three.

The women competed on a two-mile course, while the men ran a 5K (3.1 miles). The meet serves as a semi-rehearsal for the Atlantic 10 Championships, which will be held at the same course at Pole Green Park on Oct. 27. Both distances then will be extended, though, to a 5K for the women and five miles for the men.

"We were very pleased overall with today," head coach Andrew Gerard said. "On the men's side, we planned to sit back, pack up, run a controlled first two miles and then see how far forward we could come in the last mile – more in the style of a five-mile race. We were able to do that nicely with everyone moving up well over the last bit.

"For the women, it being so short, we emphasized getting out a bit more aggressively, but still connecting inside the first mile and then looking to maintain those groups as we close. We also did that well for the most part. Overall, a good opener and springboard into full distance races in two weeks."

Leading the women was Atlantic 10 All-Conference runner Ciara Donohue. The junior placed fourth, finishing in 11:25.1. Fellow junior Margaret Morgan was not far behind in 12th place with a time of 11:40.0.

Graduate student Carolyn Conley placed 17th (11:54.2), junior Khalilah Hamer finished in 25th and sophomore Riley Freeland took 27th (12:11.8) to round out Mason's top five.

On the men's side, graduate student Jonathan Schloth paced the men with an 11th-place finish with a time of 15:48.6 on the 5K course. Fellow graduate student Dustin Jutras came across the line in 14th (15:56.2), junior Ethan Newland was 17th (16:02.5), graduate student Trent Lancaster placed 18th (16:03.3) and sophomore Colin Cannon finished 24th (16:10.5).

The Patriots return to action in two weeks with the Winthrop/adidas Invitational on Sept. 15 in Rock Hill, S.C.