Oct. 4, 2014
Men’s Results | Women’s Results
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Georgia Tech women’s cross country team won the 5K and the men’s team took second in the 8K Saturday at the Upstate Invitational. Behind senior Katie Townsend’s third-place run, the women’s team won its first meet of the season with just 33 points, nine points in front of second-place finisher North Florida (42).
“It was a solid win for the women, we’re really pleased with their effort today and with the progress they’re making,” head coach Alan Drosky said. “As a group, they got out much better than our last meet and were able to stay near the front. We starting taking control of the race after halfway, then held off a challenge from a fast improving North Florida team.
“From here we need to keep working hard and maintain this momentum as we approach the second half of the season.”
The Jacket women had an outstanding run as all five point scorers finished in the top 10. Led by Townsend’s 17:51 pace, sophomore Melissa Fairey (18:01) and senior Kelly Meyer (18:08) followed suit in fifth and seventh place, respectively.
Rounding out the scoring for the women was sophomore Hayley Keadey (18:16) in eighth and senior Morgan Jackson (18:23) in 10th-place. Caroline Kissel (18:31) and Rachel Hammond (18:33) ran solid for Georgia Tech as well.
“Townsend, Fairey, and Keadey have been consistently solid for us, and Meyer was one of the few today who did not get out well, but worked hard to get up close to the front,” Drosky said. “Jackson had a great effort today to close out our top five.”
As a team, the men placed second out of fifteen teams with 54 points. Wake Forest won the men’s race with 36 points.
“It was a solid effort for the guys on a day where we were a little off,” Drosky said. “I thought they hung in well and made up some ground on a strong Wake Forest team over the last two miles. But we were disappointed in not getting the win today. We’ll get back to work tomorrow with a long run and begin looking ahead to our next opportunity to line up and race.”
Senior Jeremy Greenwald finished first overall in in the men’s 8K with a time of 24:58, crossing the finishing line just 10 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher Kent Garrett (25:08) of Wake Forest. Saturday’s race marked the third straight first-place finish for Greenwald, who took first overall at the UGA Invite (Sept. 6) and won the men’s collegiate race at the Florida Mountain Dew Invitational (Sept. 20).
“Greenwald was very strong, running a patient race and taking control in the last mile,” Drosky said. “We saw Fleming and Coburn rebound from slightly off races last time out. Clifford was solid again, as was Alex Grady and Troy Hayden. And it was great to see Estes, our fifth runner today, have a breakthrough race.”
All five point scorers for the men finished within the top 20. Greenwald was followed by sophomore Patrick Fleming (25:28) in ninth and senior Alec Clifford (25:34) in 12th place. Right behind in 14th and 18th, were sophomore Zane Coburn (25:37) and senior Nat Estes (25:43).
Both teams will return to action on Oct. 17th at the Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
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