Last weekend, the No. 8 Georgetown University women’s cross country team secured their 5th Big East Championship title in 5 years. With the victory, Georgetown became just the second team to ever win five straight championships, joining Villanova University, who achieved six consecutive titles from 1989-94.
At the championships, the women executed a stellar 6,000-meter race, finishing with a total of 42 points and edging out No. 12 Providence College by one point. The same weekend, the No. 29 Georgetown men’s cross country team only managed a 3rd place finish in the 8,000-meter race with a total of 70 points, losing by a considerable margin to No. 14 Villanova and No. 21 Butler University.
The Georgetown women were led by senior Chloe Scrimegeour, who finished 3rd in the race with a time of 19:53.12. As a result, Scrimegeour was named to the all-Big East first team for the second year in a row. The next Hoya to cross the line was graduate student Lucy Jenks in 5th place overall with a time of 19:59.30.
Impressively, the Hoyas had three runners in the top 10, with senior Melissa Riggins placing 7th and finishing with a time of 20:09.08. Nevertheless, the Providence women finished with four runners in the top 10, taking the 2nd, 6th, 8th and 10th places.
At last year’s championships, the Hoyas triumphed over the Friars by 28 points. This year, the battle proved to be closer. In turn, the Georgetown women needed to dig deep.
With the battle at the front being so narrow between Georgetown and Providence, the teams relied on their other point scorers. For Georgetown, five other Hoyas finished in the top 20. Sophomore Barrett Justema took the 4th point scoring spot, placing 13th with a time of 20:48.02, and graduate student Charlotte Tomkinson secured the 5th and final spot, placing 14th with a time of 20:49.86.
Importantly, in the final stretch of the race, the Hoyas’ superior depth proved to be decisive, as the final Providence point scorer was held to 18th place by Georgetown’s 6th, 7th and 8th runners.
Women’s cross country Head Coach Mitchell Baker articulated the team effort that allowed the team to secure the championship.
“Today’s win was about as complete a program effort as I can imagine,” Baker told Georgetown Athletics. “The racers themselves checked every box of a championship effort, which is a testament to the values instilled in them by our alumni: they fought for every spot, and in the end, it was our 6th and 7th runners who did not get to contribute to our team score but who by their efforts pushed back the finishing place of Providence’s 5th runner that ultimately added the two critical points to their team score.”
The Georgetown women put in an all around team effort to beat Providence 42 to 43 and secure their 5th Big East title in a row. To go along with the incredible feat, three Hoyas — Scrimgeour, Jenks and Riggins — were named to the all-Big East first team and five Hoyas were named to the all-Big East second team.
While the women made history at the Big East championships, the men faced a more challenging day. In the men’s 8,000, the Hoyas were unable to replicate the women’s success and were held to 3rd place.
The Georgetown men were led by first-year James Dunne, who placed 5th with a time of 24:01.01. Also in the top 10, graduate student Abel Teffra finished 9th and recorded a time of 24:08.40. Teffra managed an excellent race with a spill at the beginning, but recovered and fought his way back towards the front. Both Dunne and Teffra were named to the all-Big East first team.
The next two Hoyas finished in the top 20, with junior Luke Ondracek finishing in 14th with a time of 24:19.88 and sophomore Birhanu Harriman placing 19th and recording a time of 25:54.43. These two Hoyas were named to the all-Big East second team. The final Georgetown point scorer was first-year Derek Fearon, who crossed the line in 23rd at a time of 25:01.98.
Despite various strong individual performances, the Hoyas failed to mount a cohesive team performance. The Georgetown men ended up finishing 35 points behind 1st place Villanova and 29 points behind the 2nd place Butler. The Hoyas will look to bounce back from their average showing.
Men’s cross country Head Coach Brandon Bonsey emphasized the importance of the overall team success, but commended the other competing schools on their races.
“This is a team sport, and we were not good enough today,” Bonsey told Georgetown Athletics. “I have the utmost respect for Villanova and Butler. They ran great today. We did not. We need to be better and I’m confident that we will be soon.”
Both teams will look to build on their performances at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals in State College, Pa., Nov. 15.
