For the second time in conference history, the Georgetown men’s cross-country team won its third consecutive Big East Championship this Saturday in Kenosha, Wis., where senior Jonathan Green led the Hoyas by claiming the individual championship title.
Both the men’s and women’s teams travelled to the championship race, where the men came in first out of nine teams and the women came in third out of ten teams.
The men’s team arrived at the meet following two first place wins in the Big East Championship in 2015 and 2016, making Saturday’s victory the program’s third straight Big East title.
Head Coash Brandon Bonsey emphasized his team’s resolve in accomplishing the feat.
“Every year we’re trying to be our very best for these last three races of the year,” Bonsey said.
This win came after a disappointing pre-national meet Oct. 14, where the Hoyas placed 14th out of 41.
“Our season hasn’t been amazing thus far, but that’s somewhat by design,” Bonsey said. “We’re not training to be good in September, we’re training to be good at the end of October and going into November. I felt pretty confident going in.”
The team placed first with a score of 40 points, while All-American graduate student Jonathan Green came in first individually with a finishing time of 24:27.6 for the 8-kilometer race.
Bonsey said he did not want Green to fully exert himself during the race.
“I kind of wanted [Green] to run a pretty conservative race and just try to win but not run super hard,” Bonsey said. “Our plan was just to sit with the pack through five or six kilometers and then do what [he could] to win but not overly exert himself.”
Georgetown’s second and third place runners also made it into the top ten, with junior Reilly Bloomer taking fourth place with a time of 24:50.8 and junior Nick Wareham earning seventh place with a time of 25:00.6.
The top three Hoyas earned All-Big East First Team honors for their performances. Georgetown’s following point-scorers, sophomore Jack Van Scoter and senior Nick Golebiowski, came in 12th place and 16th place with times of 25:06.9 and 25:17.1, respectively.
Bonsey earned the title Big East Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year.
Bonsey said he is optimistic about Georgetown’s outlook for upcoming races.
“We won [the regional championship] the last two years as well,” Bonsey said. “We really just want to be top two. We just need to get our second through fifth guys to be a little closer to each other.”
Georgetown’s women’s team came third in the Big East Championship with a score of 63 points behind Villanova and Providence, who scored 39 and 46 points, respectively. Senior Josette Norris led the team with a top-ten finish, and she came in ninth place in the 6-kilometer race with a time of 20:52.6.
The following four point-scorers for the Hoya women finished in a very close pack over a 5.3-second period, sweeping 12th place through 15th place.
Georgetown’s second finisher and 12th place overall was senior Kennedy Weisner with a time of 20:59.2, followed closely by freshman Martha MacDonald with a time of 20:59.5, senior Autumn Eastman with a time of 21:04.9 and graduate student Meredith Rizzo scored the final points with a time of 21:05.5.
“We were really happy with the way they ran,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Julie Culley said. “Obviously we would have liked to be a little further ahead in team placement, but both teams ahead of us, Villanova and Providence will likely be in the top ten to top fifteen in the country this year.”
Culley considered the strength of Villanova, helpful for Georgetown’s women going forward.
“Getting up there and mixing it up with [Villanova and Providence] was what we wanted to do,” Culley said. “It definitely gives our group more confidence going into the regional champions.”
All the top seven Hoya women, including freshman Margie Cullen — Georgetown’s sixth finisher and 16th overall — and senior Madeline Perez, who placed 19th, earned All-Big East honors. Norris made All-Big East First Team honors while the remaining women were awarded All-Big East Second Team honors.
Georgetown’s men’s and women’s teams will take next week off before returning to competition on Nov. 9 for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Championships in Bethlehem, Pa.
