Gosser, Musketeers Place Eighth at Pre-Nationals

Saturday, October 17

Louisville, Ky.

9:30 a.m.

Xavier University

Pre-Nationals

Photo by: Doug Cochran

Gosser, Musketeers Place Eighth at Pre-Nationals

10.17.15 | Cross Country

Three XU women posted 6K times that rank in the top-20 in the school record book

By: Greg Lautzenheiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Freshman Caroline Gosser was one of three Xavier women to post a 6K times that ranks in the top-20 in school history on Saturday afternoon as the Musketeers placed eighth at Pre-Nationals. The Xavier men took 26th (out of 31 teams), respectively.

The Xavier women were eighth out of 35 teams in the unseeded race and finished ahead of eight regionally ranked teams. The Musketeers entered the meet ranked 13th in the Great Lakes Region.

Gosser posted a time of 21:11.5 - the fifth fastest time in XU history - as the Louisville, Ky., native was the first Musketeer to cross the finish line in 15th place (out of 237 runners). She was followed by Sarah Mazzei (25th - 21:26.8) and Madeline Britton (54th - 21:51.3). Mazzei's time ranks ninth in school history, while Britton's ranks 19th.

Allison Sinning (85th - 22:12.0), Caterina Karas (88th - 22:13.5) and Gina Genco (157th - 22:54.4) were the next three runners across the finish line. Meghan Vogel (185th - 23:23.2) was the final XU runner to finish the race.

Garrett Knapik was the top men's finisher, posting a time of 25:29.9 in the 8K race to place 104th. He was followed by Ryan Nephew (113th - 25:36.9), Aaron Peterson (140th - 25:49.3) and William Becker (159th - 26:06.7).

The final three runners to cross the finish line for the men were Avery Campbell (173rd - 26:21.2), Charles Korodi (189th - 26:45.1) and Jordan Shepherd (196th - 27:02.7).

Xavier also had runners in the men's 8K open race and women's 6K open race. Delainey Burnett was one of five women in the race, pacing the group with a time of 22:54.5 to pace 56th. Grayson Jenkins was one of three men in the race, posting a time of 26:18.3 to place 85th.

The Musketeers return to action at the BIG EAST Championships on Saturday, Oct. 31. XU is hosting the meet at the Golf Center at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio.

COACH ORNER: WOMEN'S RACE

"I was happy with some of the individual performances from our women's varsity, but as a team I thought we underperformed. We had a solid top three, but beyond that we have a lot of work to do."

"Caroline Gosser had a great race to lead the team and set a personal best by 15 seconds. I thought Caroline looked really strong today from the start. Today was the first time all season that she's raced to the level she's been training. She closed well over the last 2K and I look forward to seeing what she can do at the BIG EAST Championship in two weeks.

"In addition to Sarah Mazzei, I also think Maddie Britton had a great race - racing well after taking nearly a month and a half off is no easy task and to run a lifetime best is even harder. She finally feels like herself again and I'm really happy I took a chance on her today."

"In the women's open race, Delainey Burnett had a solid race after taking the past month off from racing. She looked really comfortable so I know she's got a lot more to give come BIG EAST."

COACH ORNER: MEN'S RACE

"Our men's varsity was able to correct some recent mistakes by getting out stronger during the first 400 meters of the race and packing up well, but they weren't able to close as well over the last 3K as I expected. We continue to have strong results up front, but can't seem to get our 3-5 runners close enough to influence the team scores."

"Garrett Knapik had a solid race to lead the team today, but Ryan Nephew had the best overall race. Ryan was able to improve by another 25 seconds from his breakthrough race at the All-Ohio two weeks ago."

"In the men's open race, Grayson Jenkins had a huge breakthrough - improving by 44 seconds from his performance at the All-Ohio two weeks ago. Grayson looked really strong today and things just clicked at the perfect moment."