Oct. 14, 2016
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s cross country teams turned over 12 personal best times in their 7th- and 10th-place finishes at the Crimson Classic on Friday morning.
“It’s hard to evaluate today other than to say we were expecting better,” said head coach Alan Drosky. “A lot of women ran career bests and you have to be happy with that and we weren’t at full strength with some sickness and nagging injuries having an impact. But we have to learn to run as a team, pull each other up and push each other forward. When the women do that they will see great progress as a team.”
The men’s squad raced first to a seventh place finish, scoring more than 200 points ahead of Atlantic Coast Conference competition Florida State. Junior Nahom Solomon finished first for the Jackets, crossing the line 13th among Division I runners with a time of 25:01.6. He has finished first among the Jackets in every meet he has raced in this season. Joining him in the top seven was Matthew Munns, Mitchell Sanders, Tanner Shaw, Frank Pittman, Alex Grady and Ryan Peck. Sanders and Pittman both raced career bests with a time of 25:41.0 for Sanders and 25:54.1 for Pittman.
“For as much depth as we have on the men’s team, we should see groups working together,” commented Drosky. “That didn’t happen today and our team score suffered for it. We beat some solid teams today, but we are better than we showed.”
The women followed with the 6k, racing to a 10th-place finish with 273 points and setting 10 career bests. They topped No. 25 Mississippi (399) and Florida State (492). Sophomore Amy Ruiz finished first for the Jackets, crossing the line 38th with a career best 6k time of 21:43.5. It was her second meet, finishing first for Georgia Tech. Behind Ruiz by just a tenth of second was sophomore Mary Prouty who bested her personal record with a time of 21:43.6.
Rounding out the top seven with the two sophomores were Hailey Gollnick, Mary Claire Solomon, Haley Anderson, Haley Stumvoll and Rebecca Dow. All of the top seven finishers for Tech recorded career bests on the course. Courtney Naser also notched a career record, racing to a time of 22:45.8. Rebecca Entrekin and Juanita Pardo ran career bests on Alabama’s home course with times of 22:51.9 and 23.40.1 respectively.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech cross country and track & field teams, follow us on Twitter (@GT_TrackNField), Facebook (Georgia Tech Track & Field/Cross Country) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
