Sept. 24, 2016
ST. PAUL, Minn.- The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s cross country teams raced to 18th and 23rd place on Saturday afternoon in the 31st Annual Roy Griak Invitational. The men’s squad topped ACC foes Duke and Pittsburgh in the Merrill Fischbein Men’s Gold 8k.
“We had a good day, saw a lot of positives, and some areas we can improve,” said head coach Alan Drosky. “The men and women are both moving in the right direction.”
Junior Nahom Solomon led the Jackets for the second consecutive meet this season. He finished 66th in the field of 263 with a time of 26:12. The top seven finishers for the Tech men along with Solomon were Alex Grady (26:25), Patrick Fleming (26:53), Christian Bowles (26:56), Jack Bordoni (27:00), Mitchell Sanders (27:07) and Frank Pittman (27:13).
On the women’s side, sophomore Amy Ruiz led the squad with an 89th place finish in the field of 335 runners and a time of 23:21 in her first 6k. Sophomore Mary Prouty, who finished first for the Jackets at the UGA Invitational, came in second for the Jackets with a time of 23:30. Finishing out the top seven for Tech were Hailey Gollnick (23:35), Mary Claire Solomon (23:51), Melissa Fairey (24:03), Rebecca Dow (24:24), and Haley Anderson (24:27).
“The Griak is always very competitive and this year was maybe more stacked than ever,” said Drosky. “Nahom and Amy ran very well to lead us. Behind Nahom, the men’s depth really showed. The top five for the women did a great job, worked together, and competed hard. We’ve still got work to do but we’re progressing as planned.”
The Georgia Tech cross country teams will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 1 when they race in the Foothills Invitational in Oxford, Ala.
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.
