The No. 7 Georgetown men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the George Washington University Invitational on Friday at Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, Va. Both teams returned to the Hilltop with third place finishes.

Head Coach Ron Helmer described the event as “a very low-key meet,” and said he “used it as a chance to rest some of the older athletes.”

“We had a chance to see some of the younger kids run, and I think we got a lot done in what we set out to accomplish – to give some people a chance to compete in a situation where they’d be counted on as scorers and see how they’d respond to that,” Helmer said. “We got some good work out of a lot of the younger athletes and the half-milers who really aren’t cross country runners, and I was particularly pleased with Tyrona Heath, who ran number one for us.”

Heath, a 400- and 800-meter runner during track and field season, “has been training incredibly well, and she did a really nice job in that race keeping herself composed,” Helmer said.

Heath’s time of 18:47.83 earned her an eighth place finish. Sarah Folse of Virginia won the 5,000-meter race. Five other Cavaliers finished in the top seven, solidifying Virginia’s win.

“Virginia has some pretty good talent, and they clearly dominated the meet,” Helmer said.

Freshman Rose Wetzel’s time of 19:02.62 earned her 15th place in the race.

“Rose looked really tough, and she did a really nice job,” Helmer said.

Freshman middle distance runner Treniere Clement and seniors Erin Flynn and Emily Dent rounded out the scoring five for the Hoyas.

Helmer and Assistant Coach Patrick Henner decided to have the men’s team “run the B team in the A race and the A team in the B race,” Henner said. “The reason we did that is because we wanted the guys to run at an 85 to 90 percent effort level and just work on staying relaxed the whole way,” Henner said.

Miami of Ohio won the race with 36 points, followed by Virginia, which finished with 46. Georgetown took third in the 19-team field, finishing with 117 points.

“I was very pleased with how the team did. The older guys ran really well [in the B race], but all the younger guys ran very well too,” Henner said.

Sophomore Dylan Welsh was the Hoyas top finisher in the A race. Welsh clocked 25:54.36 to claim 11th place in the eight-kilometer race. Junior Chris Miltenberg, senior Brad Stapleton, freshman Brad Barker and sophomore George O’ Loughlin all earned points for the Hoyas.

Sophomore Mike Smith, coming off a second place finish at last weekend’s Great American Cross Country Festival, timed 25:17.64 to take first in the B race. Corey Smith, David Rodriguez and Matt Dunn also finished in the top five for Georgetown in the B division.

“The front guys of Rodriguez, and Mike and Cory Smith are looking very, very good. I think they can pretty much run with anyone in the country,” Henner said. “Now, continuing to build more depth is going to be our key. Our next big meet is the pre-NCAA meet, which is at Iowa State. That will be the next time we really line up our A team.”

Helmer said he plans to use a similar strategy of resting top runners in the Hoyas’ next meet, but will gradually build the intensity leading up to Big East and NCAA Championships.

“We’re going to do the same thing this coming weekend at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh, but not such a drastic. We’ll still run a very competitive, representative team,” Helmer said. “Our older athletes will continue to focus on training and getting ready for later on.”

Georgetown will travel to Lehigh Oct. 7 for the Paul Short Invitational.