CEDARVILLE, Ohio – George Mason cross country student-athlete Annabelle Eastman won the Atlantic 10 individual title at the 2021 Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning in Cedarville, Ohio.

She became Mason women's cross country's first A-10 individual champion since 2013, finishing in a time of 17:24.6 in the women's 5k.

The Melbourne, Australia native held a one-second advantage at the 3k-mark (10:30) before sealing the seven-second victory over La Salle's Eleanor Mancini. 

"Thrilled for Annabelle," said assistant coach Tony Mihalich. "She went for the title last year and it was great to finally come back and win it. Really loved the fight that all the All-Conference folks put up as well."

On the men's side, junior Jack Ikenberry continued his gradual rise in the Atlantic 10, finishing runner up in the men's five-mile race. He posted a time of 24:43.3 to finish eight seconds behind Richmond's Peter Borger (24:35.3).

The junior from Mechanicsville, Va., has placed in the top-15 for three consecutive seasons, earning him A-10 All-Conference honors.

"Men were excellent for the top three," said head coach Andrew Gerard, "but we had too big a gap back to our fourth and fifth scorers after they were caught up in a pile up before the mile mark. The women were similarly very strong up front. Annabelle as A-10 individual champion is a fantastic feat for her, and Sarah, Louisa and Alexis all did an outstanding job to close out. We need to shore up our deeper scorers if we're going to crack that top tier. A good weekend but we're looking forward to two weeks from now to still improve."

Both programs registered top-five team finishes. The men took third for the second straight year while the women placed fifth.

The Mason men had three A-10 All-Conference selections – the most since the 2014 season. Along with Ikenberry, senior Hunter Jutras (9th, 25:08.1) and Wesley Bond (12th, 25:14.6) notched A-10 All-Conference honors.

James Seal (37th, 25:48.5) and Josh Walker (38th, 25:48.8) rounded out Mason's top-five scorers in the five-mile race.

For the women, sophomore Sarah Francis was next to cross the finish line in 13th (18:16.0). She earned the first A-10 All-Conference honors of her career.

Graduate student Louisa Whittingham placed 22nd with a time of 18:40.1, followed by Alexis Anderson in 29th (18:50.2). Freshman Farah McDaniel rounded out Mason's top-five scorers in 48th (19:20.3).