Sept. 29, 2007

Complete Results

MANASSAS, Va. - George Mason's men's and women's cross country teams hosted the annual Mason Invitational cross country meet on Saturday morning at Bull Run Regional Park in Manassas, Va. The George Mason men's team finished in second place in the 8k run, while the Patriot women finished in eighth place in the 6k run.

George Mason finished in eighth place with 194 team points. Charlotte won the team title with 36 points, while Maryland finished second with 68 points and UNC Wilmington finished third with 103 points. The top finisher for the Patriots was freshman Samantha Fickel, who crossed the finish line in 33rd place with a time of 24:21.52. Charlotte's Aja Jackson won the women's 6k with a time of 21:54.01.

The men's team scored 60 points, trailing only Miami (Ohio), who finished in first place with 29 team points and the top-two finishers at the meet. Seven members of the Patriot men's team placed in the top-30 at the meet, led by sophomore Robert Krause, who crossed the finish line third in a time of 25:40.21. The only two runners to finish ahead of Krause were Pat Sovacool, who won the race with a time of 25:30.26, and Michael Veatch, who was the runner-up, clocking in at 25:37.42.

A trio of seniors finished with the top times following Krause as Kris Cruz placed 10th (26:35.12), John Crain placed 13th (27:40.16) and Ryan Davis placed 16th (27:50.23). The next three Patriots to cross the finish line following Cruz, Crain and Davis were sophomore Andrew Holloway, who finished 21st with a time of 28:13.34, sophomore James Snyder, who finished 29th with a time of 29:36.01, and junior Ryan Murphy, who finished right behind Snyder in 30th place with a time of 29:36.04.

Both the men's and women's cross country teams will take next weekend off before returning to action. The men's team will run at the Nittany Lion Invitational on Friday, Oct. 12, while the women's team will race at the Delaware Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 13.