Georgetown’s men’s and women’s cross country teams both had strong showings in their second competition at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Penn. this past weekend. The men’s team, now ranked 24th in the country, finished 3rd out of 47 teams. The now 5th ranked women’s team finished first among the 47-team field.
“I think it showed that we still have some work to do,” Head Men’s Distance Coach Brandon Bonsey said.
Despite not finishing as strongly as he would have liked, Bonsey was upbeat about the potential his team showed.
“It also showed that we are really good and we’re really deep. … With 1k left to go we were dominating the meet, we had 7 guys in the top 30.”
The men were led by graduate student Andrew Springer who finished fourth overall with a time of 23:52, and senior Brian King, who finished 9th with a time of 24:12. They battled difficult conditions as the large field size and heat took a toll on the runners.
“We knew it was going to be hot, but we didn’t know it was going to that hot,” Bonsey said.
Women’s Cross Country Coach Michael Smith shared very positive feelings after the meet.
“This meet confirmed that we are a very good cross country team,” Smith said.
The women did not have a single runner finish in the top 10, but they were powered by a trio of girls in the top 15. Sophomore Samantha Nadel led the team in 11th place with a time of 20:40 while graduate student Rachel Schneider and sophomore Haley Pierce followed in 13th and 15th places, respectively.
The heat undoubtedly affected the runners, which gave Smith more cause for optimism, as even in compromising conditions his team was able to grind out a victory.
“My initial feeling was being really concerned for our athletes because they were just terrible, terrible conditions,” he said.
With the win and bump up to the 5th best team, Smith wants to see his team stay focused and not be influenced by the pressure.
“Keep calm and carry on,” Smith said.
This coming weekend, the men will travel to Neward, Delaware for the Blue-Gold Invitational, while the women will have the weekend off.
