Women's Cross Country | 9/29/2018 1:35:00 PM

LEESBURG, Va. – With the rainy weather finally yielding, the George Mason men's and women's cross country teams defended their home turf on a picturesque fall day.

The Patriots swept the team titles at the Mason Invitation on a warm Saturday morning at Oatlands Plantation. Competing for the first time in four weeks due to inclement weather postponing an invitational, the Mason men and women both finished first at their only home meet of the season. Sophomore transfer Siobhra O'Flaherty and graduate student Trent Lancaster both led the Patriots with second-place finishes on the men's and women's sides respectively.

The women had five runners finish in the top nine as they cruised past the field with a score of 25. Mary Washington was in a distant second (65) and Norfolk State (81) finished third.
O'Flaherty, competing in her first meet at Mason, finished the 6K with a time of 21:58.1. The transfer from Carlow, Ireland, hung tight with Norfolk State's Martha Bissah for a while. Bissah pulled away for the victory in 21:41.7.

Patriot teammates, senior Ciara Donohue (22:34.0) and junior Margaret Morgan (23:21.1) finished directly behind O'Flaherty in third and fourth, respectively. Junior Khalilah Hamer (23:42.8) placed seventh and senior Carolyn Conley (23:56.0) rounded out Mason's top five with a ninth-place finish.

On the men's side, the Patriots' pack running dominated the race, with nine Mason runners finishing in the top 11. Mason won with a score of 24, well ahead of VMI (62) and Mary Washington (81).

Lancaster, a graduate student from nearby Sterling, Va., ran a time of 25:56.2 on the 8K course. He finished just eight seconds behind individual champ Davone Hernandez (25:48.6) from VMI.

Mason graduate student Jonathan Schloth (26:13.4) just edged out fellow graduate student Dustin Jutras (26:13.7) by three-tenths of a second at the finish line for fourth and fifth place. Freshman Finbarr Warren (26:33.7), freshman Jake Lonsdale (26:37.1), junior Ethan Newland (26:47.0), junior Thomas Amabile (26:56.2), sophomore Hunter Jutras (27:18.5) and sophomore Colin Cannon (27:22.7) then continued the Patriot barrage by finishing sixth through 11th, respectively.

Both teams return to action in two weeks with the Princeton Invitational on Oct. 12 in Princeton, N.J.