MECHANICSVILLE, Va. –– Racing in its first meet of the season, American University men's and women's cross country showed early promise at Richmond's Spider Alumni Open.
On the men's side, junior
Noah Smith (15:50.6) led the squad for the first time in his career and came in first for the Eagles and 13th overall. Sophomore
Emmett Engelhardt (18:58.0) and first year
Marcus Valenzuela (18:59.1) finished nearly side-by-side in American's second and third spots. The men finished handily in front of fifth place Richmond (144 pts) with 93 points but trailed third place Norfolk State (65 pts).
First year
Anna Villavicencio paced the women's side, cruising the course to a 9th place overall finish with a time of 14:39.3. Following Villavicencio across the line for American were sophomores
Emma Colavito (15:09.0) and
Shealyn Brochu (15:13.0) in 23rd and 26th place. Junior
Zoe Rector (15:19.7) and first year
Natasha Cohen (15:32.1) rounded out the Eagles' top five.
As a team, the women finished fifth overall with 122 points, behind JMU with 108 points and besting Christopher Newport with 173.
The Eagles are back in action on Sep. 11, taking a trip to State College, Pa. for the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invite.
Coaches' Corner
"The men had a pretty good day today," started head coach
Sean Graham. "We missed a few opportunities to engage in the competitiveness at the front of the race, leaving us paying catch up for the second half, but we closed pretty well for a solid first day on the grass. We had a nice pack of three near the top of the race with
Noah Smith and two young guys,
Emmett Engelhardt and
Marcus Valenzuela, who had a great debut in the AU jersey. Pulling our pack a little tighter together with our 4-10 guys is something we'll continue to work on over the next few weeks to take advantage of the depth we now have. All-in-all, it was a decent start with plenty of room for improvement that's well within our reach."
Coach Jordyn Pugh summed up the day for the women's squad as well. "Strong start for the women! We had good packs and intentionality in moving together to get further up in the race. Freshmen really stepped up today in their AU debut being four of our top seven. First year
Anna Villavicencio led our squad and with a spread of under a minute I'm excited to see how we translate to the 6k. The experience of the sophomores–
Emma Colavito and
Shealyn Brochu–and junior
Zoe Rector being our 2-4, will help us iron out that transition as we move into Penn State next week! Very solid foundation has been laid for the entire group."
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Men's 6k Results, 4th
13.
Noah Smith, 18:50.6
16.
Emmett Engelhardt, 18:58.0
17.
Marcus Valenzuela, 18:59.1
27.
Zack Zerbe, 19:27.7
28.
Jaden Frederick, 19:28.0
35.
Barak Goldstein, 19:48.8
37.
Ty Parker, 19:54.2
38.
Brandon Morrow, 19:55.6
45.
Jackson Farmer, 20:08.4
59.
Aidan Nelson, 20:41.9
67.
Jaxyn Mahoney, 21:00.0
85.
Daden Grogan, 22:03.4
95.
Miles Wicks, 22:18.1
Women's 4k Results, 5th
9.
Anna Villavicencio, 14:39.3
23.
Emma Colavito, 15:09.0
26.
Shealyn Brochu, 15:13.0
29.
Zoe Rector, 15:19.7
36.
Natasha Cohen, 15:32.1
41.
Charli McCue, 15:39.5
42.
Marisol Montoya, 15:39.9
48.
Charlotte Orr, 15:46.7
57.
Estella Miller, 15:55.9
62.
Georgina Chalow, 16:07.0
63.
Kara Langbaum, 16:07.2
64.
Fiona Murphy, 16:10.6
78.
Scarlett Lestina, 16:49.4
128.
Hannah Puckett, 20:28.4
