Men’s and women’s cross country respectively finished in third and fourth places in the Atlantic 10 Championship meet Saturday, each blowing by more than 100 competing runners from across the conference.
Men’s cross country reached its highest finish in the A-10 Championship since 2017 Saturday, coming in third place, while the women’s team settled for fourth place after winning the conference last fall. Senior Ryan Fowkes delivered the standout performance of the meet in Mechanicsville, Virginia, where he broke GW’s five-mile record for the second consecutive meet with a blazing time of 24:11.6.
The Colonials competed in six meets each throughout the mid-Atlantic and Midwest this fall, facing competition ranging from other regional teams to nationally ranked powerhouses, like Northern Arizona. The men’s team collected two team first place finishes, and the women’s team notched three top-two finishes throughout the season.
Fowkes led the men’s squad with consistently the fastest times on the team throughout the season, breaking GW’s 8K record earlier this month with a 24:18.21 time. Graduate Yukino Parle was the fastest on the women’s side, taking the top spot for the team through the fall and running the second fastest 5K time in program history at the championship meet with a 17:12.9.
Four runners on the men’s team and two on the women’s received All-Conference honors for their performance throughout the season when the championship meet came to a close.
Check out how both teams rounded out the season Saturday:
Men’s five mile
The 137-runner men’s race had a packed field, including Loyola Chicago and La Salle, which the NCAA ranks fifth in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions, respectively.
The runners got off to a quick start, with all 10 Colonials crossing the 1-mile mark in under 4:47. Fowkes and freshman Michael Bohlke stuck close together, crossing the mile mark in 4:43.3 and 4:43.5, respectively, less than two seconds behind the leader.
The field continued to break apart, and by the 3.97 mile mark, Fowkes trailed the front-runner by just under seven seconds. Bohlke fell back and trailed Fowkes by more than 10 seconds.
Fowkes picked up the pace, passing three runners and running a scorching 4:34.8 over the last 1.03 miles of the race to secure a sixth place finish.
Fowkes’ 5-mile finish marked his second record-breaking performance of the season, on the heels of his GW-leading 8K time earlier this month.
Bohlke crossed the finish line with a time of 24:37.7 at the first A-10 Championship meet of his career, setting a new personal record good enough for a 15th-place finish.
The next five Colonials finished in 19th, 26th, 32nd, 41st and 42nd place, securing a third place overall finish with 98 points, 50 behind second place La Salle. The Colonials ran a team average of 24:44.6 over the 5-mile race.
Loyola Chicago, who is competing in their first season in the A-10, secured the overall win with 37 points and a team average of 24:16.6. La Salle followed closely behind with 48 points and a 24:41.56 average finish time.
The lowest scoring team wins in cross country, and the first five runners to cross the finish line are the ones who count toward the overall score. The top five collect as many points as the place they finished, with 15 being a perfect score.
Fowkes and Bohlke both secured All-Conference honors with their runs. This fall marks the first season since 2017 when a pair of men’s runners have earned All-Conference honors for cross country.
Women’s 5K
The women laced up their spikes looking to defend their A-10 Championship title from last season but were outpaced by Loyola Chicago, La Salle and A-10 rival George Mason.
The 136-runner women’s field split from the pack sooner than the men’s race with graduate twins Liz and El Mancini from La Salle coming through the one-mile mark two seconds ahead of the competition. They would go on to take first and second place nearly 15 seconds ahead of the third-place finisher.
Parle led the way for the Colonials, crossing the first mile in 5:16.4, four seconds behind the Mancini twins. Freshman Sarah Mitchell followed not too far behind, reaching the mile mark in 5:21.5.
As the pack spread out from there, Parle trailed the leaders by 13 seconds by the 2.1 mile mark. Mitchell fell to nearly 25 seconds behind Parle.
Parle kept stride with the Loyola runners that she hung with, running the last mile in 5:34 to finish in seventh place, just six seconds behind the sixth place finisher.
Parle’s final time of 17:12.9 was good for the second fastest 5K time in GW program history, besting her previous personal record of 17:45.7. Her run was nearly 15 seconds faster than the previous second best of 17:26.5, set by Margaret Coogan in 2020.
Mitchell, competing in her first A-10 Championship race, finished in 17:40.9, good for a 14th place finish.
The next five Colonials finished in 21st, 30th, 32nd, 52nd and 65th place, securing a fourth place overall finish with 105 points, 13 points behind third place George Mason. The Colonials ran a team average of 17:51.62 over the 5K race.
Like the men’s race, Loyola Chicago and La Salle secured first and second place, respectively. Loyola scored 54 points with an average finish of 17:25.34, and La Salle scored 74 points with a 17:20.26 average.
Parle and Mitchell both earned All-Conference honors thanks to their quick finishes. It is the third consecutive season the women’s team earned a pair of All-Conference honors.
The Colonials now set their sights on the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet, which will take place Friday, Nov. 11 in State College, Pennsylvania.