The GW men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the University of Richmond Saturday and finished with solid results.
The men’s team beat Richmond 21-34 and lost to Towson University 27-30 in a dual-meet format. The women’s team beat Old Dominion University 15-50 and defeated Towson 27-28, but lost to Richmond 19-41.
GW head coach Jim Hopkins said the overwhelming response from his men was that they underachieved. Had the Colonials finished ahead of a few more Towson runners, they would have made up the three points that kept them from winning both matches.
“A lot of guys said to me after the race, `I could have beat this guy or I could have beat that guy,’ ” Hopkins said. “The thing is, we have to do that.”
Dan Uriano was the top GW finisher in third place overall with a time of 26:39, 42 seconds behind the race winner. He was followed a second later by Jeff McCarthy in fourth place. Chris Peterson finished sixth in 26:43.
Hopkins said many of his runners are improving. Uriano shaved three minutes off his time from the meet at Richmond last season, while McCarthy shaved a minute off his time. Nathan Converse finished 12th, but cut two minutes from his time at Richmond last year.
“Every race they get better and stronger,” Hopkins said. “Since I’ve been here, that’s the best the men have run.”
The women were led by Amanda Roebel, who finished third overall with a time of 19:40, 25 seconds behind the first-place finisher.
“She really broke through,” Hopkins said. “This was by far her best race of the year.”
Richmond dominated the women’s race, placing six among the top eight finishers. GW’s Lisa Faia and Julie Anne Laurence finished ninth and 10th, but Hopkins said the women’s team needs a stronger push from its supporting cast.
“We’re tired right now, but we need to get our second- and third-place finishers up to Amanda,” Hopkins said.
Both teams finished strong despite being tired, which is a good sign for the future, Hopkins said. He feels his teams’ ability to overcome fatigue will be a major ingredient in GW’s success or failure at the IC4A/ECAC Championships Sept. 16 in New York City.
“We’re going to find out what we’re about,” Hopkins said. “It’s by far the biggest race either team has run to this point, and we’re going to need to compete there.”
