Georgetown’s nationally-ranked cross country teams will return to action today and tomorrow after a two-week layoff, as they compete in the Great American Cross Country Festival this evening and the George Washington Invitational tomorrow morning.
The No. 2 women’s team and No. 8 men’s team will both send their A teams to the Great American meet in Charlotte, N.C., and B teams to the George Washington Invitational in Centreville, Va.
The Great American meet will feature some of the top teams in the nation, including the top three women’s finishers from the 2001 NCAA Championships. Defending champion Brigham Young and runner-up N.C. State, along with current No. 7 Arkansas, No. 8 Duke and No. 11 Northern Arizona will all compete against Georgetown – which placed third at last year’s NCAA Championships – in the 52-team women’s field.
Despite the strong competition, Assistant Coach Juli Henner said the team would neither run its complete lineup nor attempt to overpower the opposition.
“We really don’t care about the other teams,” Henner said. “It will be neat to see how some individuals perform, but since we’re not going to be running our entire team, and BYU isn’t going to be running theirs, this weekend won’t provide a true representation of where we stand relative to the competition. We’re just going to focus on what we need to do, and following our race plan and try not to be concerned about everyone else.”
The top four finishers from Georgetown’s season opener – sophomore Jodee Adams-Moore, senior Erin Sicher and juniors Sarah Scholl and Treniere Clement – are expected to lead the team at the Great American, and Henner said it’s possible other members of the group that ran at last year’s NCAA Championships will also run.
“[Sophomore] Nicole Lee is getting over a cold, and [senior] Jill Laurendeau has been having some allergy problems, so we’ll have to wait until later to determine whether they’ll race.”
According to Henner, another last-minute decision will be junior Colleen Kelly, who has been a member of the top seven since her arrival at Georgetown, but is currently recovering from an injury she suffered last summer.
Senior Marni Kruppa, a two-time cross country All-American, and junior Amanda Pape, one of the team’s top scorers at nationals last year, are both expected to sit the race out.
Collegiate cross country rules permit seven runners to compete, with the top five finishers determining the team score, but Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Ron Helmer said the women’s team will only send six participants to Charlotte.
Although the women will withhold a large portion of their team, the men’s squad plans to run most of its lineup at the Great American, including seniors Javon Broderick, Mike Smith and Ethan Kearns; sophomores Rod Koborsi, Chris Esselborn and Charlie illioen and freshman Fleet Hower.
The men will face a slightly less daunting field, composed of No. 5 Northern Arizona, No. 7 NC State and No. 18 Duke, among others, but like the women, they plan to use the race as more of an experience-builder than a gritty clash of national contenders.
“We’re not worrying about the team scoring too much,” men’s Assistant Coach Patrick Henner said. “The plan is to focus more on executing our race strategy.”
Saturday’s George Washington Invitational will provide another opportunity for Georgetown runners to gain experience, as a group of mostly freshmen and middle-distance runners travels to Centreville, Va., to face 19 local teams, including James Madison, George Mason and the University of Virginia.
“We don’t have any specific goals but are looking to go in and compete hard and try to beat as many teams as we can,” Helmer said. “It will be a relatively low-key meet, but we’re definitely going to try to win.”
The men’s portion of the George Washington Invitational is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., with the women’s portion following at 10:15 a.m.
