FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason men's and women's cross country teams will compete in the Atlantic 10 Championships hosted by the University of Richmond on Saturday morning at Pole Green Park Cross Country Course in Mechanicsville, Virginia.
 
The women's 5k is set to begin at 10:00 a.m. followed by the men's 8k at 10:50 a.m. Watch the race live, here.
 
Last year,  Annabelle Eastman 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. That lead to a fifth-place finish for the women. The men placed third behind Jack Ikenberry as he continued his gradual rise in the Atlantic 10, finishing runner up in the men's five-mile race (24:43.3).
 
Throughout this year, the Patriots have received many A-10 weekly honors. Three of those came on Oct. 4th, after a phenomenal race at the Paul Short Invitational (9/30).  
 
Mason was picked for three out of the four awards that week, led by Junior Annabelle Eastman, who was awarded the A-10 Women's XC Performer of the Week for finishing 32nd overall clocking in at 20:10.7. She led all George Mason women in the 6K; beating her personal time by almost 20 seconds.
Also, graduate Student Jack Ikenberry  was named the A-10 Men's XC Performer of the week for finishing 44th overall and leading all Patriots while achieving his personal best time of 23:35.4 in the 8K.
 
Freshman athlete Mason Love was named the A-10 Men's XC Rookie of the Week for the third time this season after the Paul Short Invitational. Love finished in 158th place after running a 24:28.2 in the 8K. The other two times he won this award, Sept. 7th and 20th, he placed 14th overall out of 107 runners at the Spider Alumni Open (9/3) with a personal-best time of 18:17.2 in the 6K course and helped lead Mason's team to a second-place finish at the Navy Invitational (9/16).
 
At their last race, the IC4A/ECAC Championships, the women tied their best finish earning 6th overall while the men placed 14th.
 
On the women's side, Junior Annabelle Eastman placed 2nd overall tying her best finish with a time of 20:55.4. Two other juniors followed close behind including Kate O'Neill in 23rd (22:03.7) and Sarah Francis in 34th (22:13.9). Senior Noelle Saine finished three spots after in 37th (22:19.7) with junior Alexis Anderson rounding out the top five in 103rd (23:04.4).
 
For the men, Graduate student Jack Ikenberry finished in 8th place (24:10.9). Seven places after came sophomore Wesley Bond in 15th (24:34.4). Two freshmen followed, Nicholas Emmert in 86th (25:47.8) and Charlie Blundell in 212th (27:03.9). To complete the top five, Brendan Malone finished 216th (27:06.6).
 
At the beginning of the season, the Patriot women were projected to finish 7th in conference while the men were placed at 3rd.