AU Men's and Women's Crross Country Place First, Second at Leopard Invitational
Oct. 19, 2008
WASHINGTON - The American University men's and women's cross country teams ran to a first and second place finish, respectively, on Saturday at the Leopard Invitational at Lafayette's Metzgar Field. Senior Carlos Jamieson placed second overall and first in the team competition to lead the men's team while freshman Octavia Rinehardt took second to pace the women's.
The AU men won their first meet of the season with an average five mile time of 26:09.60 and five top-20 finishers. Jamieson finished second overall in the race and first among attached runners competing in the team competition. He completed the course in a time of 25:36.00, a full 18 seconds ahead of the races third place finisher. Sophomore Jeff Brannigan took fifth overall and second in the team race with a time of 26:01.30 and was followed closely by freshman Josh Olsen who finished 11th overall and eighth in the team competition in 16:15.00. AU also received top-20 finishes from sophomores Conor Sullivan and Nick Ryan as the pair finished 17th and 18th overall and 14th and 15th in the team competition, respectively. Sullivan crossed the line in 26:27.70 while Ryan stopped the clock at 26:28.00. Senior Jacob Shelly and freshman Craig Brown rounded out the scoring members of AU's team on Saturday as they took 25th and 26th overall and 22nd and 23rd in the team competition, respectively, in times of 26:44.10 and 26:44.60.
The women's team averaged 22:27.50 over Saturday's 6k course en route to their second-place showing. Rinehardt once again led the Eagles as she took second place in a time of 21:24.60, nearly a full 10 seconds ahead of the race's third-place finisher. Junior Greta Wicklund also posted a top-10 finish as she crossed the line in 22:00.90 to take sixth. Junior Rachel Forcino finished 12th in 22:29.60 and sophomore Melissa Tabas took 19th in 23:07.40 to round out AU's top-20 finishers. Other scoring members for the Eagles on Saturday included freshman Lauren Scholl who placed 22nd in 23:15.00, her classmate Caitlin Prichard who placed 53rd overall and 48th in the team competition in 25:17.10 and sophomore Haleigh Duggan who placed 62nd overall and 54th in the team competition in 25:48.60.
Saturday's men's race featured 10 teams and 104 runners. The women's race hosted eight teams and 71 runners.
The men's and women's cross country teams will return to action in two weeks on Saturday, Nov. 1, as they compete in the Patriot League Championships in Bethlehem, Pa. The men's team will be looking to defend its six-consecutive PL Championships at the race while the women's team will look to improve upon its fourth-place finish from a year ago.
