THE FLATS – Georgia Tech women’s and men’s cross country continued their season placing second and ninth at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown. The women also defeated four top-30 teams with a runner-up finish.
Head coach Alan Drosky reflects, “It was a big day for the women. They got out well at the start and fought all the way to the finish. They got wins over some really good teams and got some valuable information about the conference meet course. They’re excited and hungry to keep improving.”
He continues, “The men had a solid day, but they put themselves in a tough spot by being a little too conservative early. They rallied well and moved up quite a lot over the last half of the race. There is a number of areas where we can improve and we can makes some adjustments before our next competition.”
As a team, the women finished second overall out of 24 teams with an average time of 17:45 in the 5K. The men grabbed ninth place out of 23 schools with an average time of 25:14 in the 8K. The women scored a total of 105 points, just two shy of first place, Ole Miss, while the men capped a score of 254.
For the women, Mary Prouty led the way for the second time this season, finishing seventh out of 218 runners with a new personal best of 17:25. Prouty shaved a full minute off her previous career-best with a pace of 5:37. Sophomore Nicole Fegans placed 13th clocking a time of 17:39, followed by freshman Hana Herndon who grabbed a 19th place finish (17:46). Amy Ruiz also had an outstanding performance with a new career-best of 17:48, good for 21st place.
Rounding out the top-50, junior Ellen Flood finished 45th with a time of 18:05. Hailey Gollnick also set a new personal best of 18:11 to place 56th overall, followed by Liz Galarza who came in 68th with a time of 18:18. The Jackets’ impressive effort helped them take down four top-30 ranked teams in the meet: No. 11 Providence, No. 22 Syracuse, No. 24 Minnesota and No. 27 Dartmouth.
On the men’s side, junior Andrew Kent led the Jackets with a 33rd place finish (24:54) and a pace of 5:01. Following Kent, Avery Bartlett snagged 36th place with a time of 24:55 and sophomore Braeden Collins finished 57th (25:22).
Cross country takes a short break and is back in action Friday, Oct. 12 for the Penn State National Open. The women’s race is slated for 10:30 a.m. followed by the men’s race at 11:15 a.m.
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