DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. - The Georgia Tech cross country teams dominated the Georgia Tech XC Invitational with Taylor Wade winning the 8k race and Claire Shelton earning her first career race win in the 6k. Both teams also secured top spots in each race to complete the sweep.
Wade was the first runner to cross the line in the 8k race, setting a new personal-best time of 23:19.2 to win his second race of the season. The senior finished a full 10 seconds ahead of his sixth-place performance at the Southern Showcase and has now won back-to-back editions of the Georgia Tech XC Invitational. Wade has also won three of the last five regular season races Tech has competed in.
Alexander Arrambide ran his first sub-24 minute time, 23:58.3, in nearly two years and locked up second place with Joey Sandel completing the all-Tech podium with a time of 24:02.8. Matt Castronuovo placed sixth as Wyatt Windham claimed eighth place to secure top-10 finishes for all five scoring Jackets. Tech dominated the team standings with 20 points overall, 17 points under second-placed North Florida.
Shelton led the charge once again for the women’s team, finishing with a 20:42.0 time in the season’s first 6k race. She secured her first collegiate cross country race victory and has finished in the top-2 of the individual standings in the last two home invitationals.
Senior Lottie Chappell secured second position with a time of 21:10.8 with fellow senior Stella Chambless placing sixth overall at 21:33.0. Sadie Honig earned the final spot amongst the top-10 with Maddie Jones just behind in 11th. The Jackets scored 25 points in the 6k race, once again finishing 17 points under second-placed North Florida.
Seven of the 11 Tech runners in the 8k achieved personal-best times as Arrambide and Sandel improved on their Southern Showcase performances for season-best times. Ava Coffey’s time of 22:18.9 marked her quickest time in a 6k, just 1.5 seconds ahead of her time set in last year’s invitational.
The Yellow Jackets have shown out in their last two home invites, sweeping both the team and individual standings over four races while earning 1-2-3 podium sweeps in three of the last four races at the Georgia Tech XC Invitational.
Georgia Tech looks ahead to the Crimson Classic on Friday, October 16, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The event from Harry Pritchett Running Park marks the final race of the regular season before conference championships.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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