Cross Nation Opens Season with Third-Place End at Alumni Open

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — Richmond’s males’s and ladies’s cross nation groups every positioned third within the season-opening Spider Alumni Open Saturday at Pole Green Park. 

Racing first on the 6K distance, the boys’s workforce was paced by freshman Andy Condon and senior Henry Haase, who completed twelfth and 14th in 18:30.5 and 18:32.4, respectively. Also contributing to Richmond’s workforce rating of 89 factors had been freshman Alex Mastroly (twenty third in 18:41.9), junior Eric Scully (twenty sixth in 18:43.7) and sophomore Brady Barber (twenty seventh in 18:44.4). 

Of the 13 groups within the race, the Spiders completed behind solely William & Mary (80 factors) and Virginia (16 factors). 

“I’m really pleased with the way the men ran today. Certainly some things to work on, but cohesive with a 14-second 1-to-5 split is always a nice way to start the season,” mentioned males’s coach Steve Taylor. “Freshmen ran real well and jumped in with the upperclassmen. Some of the upper classmen showed some really good leadership.”

The girls’s workforce was led by sophomore Hallie Muniz on the 4K distance. Muniz completed thirteenth in 14:04.6, narrowly in entrance of teammate junior Mollie Fenn, who positioned seventeenth in 14:13.1. Three different Spiders completed within the prime 25: freshman Lily Strebel (nineteenth in 14:15.6), junior Phoebe Rubio (twentieth at 14:17.1), and sophomore Avery Beike (twenty third at 14:28.1). 

14 groups competed within the girls’s race, with Richmond (88 factors) ending in entrance of all of them besides William & Mary (59 factors) and Virginia (18 factors). 

“I feel good about the way they raced,” mentioned girls’s coach Lori Taylor. “It was a really great race for Hallie (Muniz). She’s ready for more. Lily (Strebel) ran really tough today. That’s what we were looking for: good racing. It was a first step after training really hard for the last couple weeks.”

Next up for the Spiders is the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Va. on Friday, September 12.