Cross Country Season Concludes at NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Friday, November 13

Madison, Wis.

1 p.m.

Xavier University

NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Cross Country Season Concludes at NCAA Great Lakes Regional

11.13.15 | Cross Country

Women place 10th, tying their all-time highest regional finish

By: Greg Lautzenheiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

MADISON, Wis. – Xavier cross country wrapped up its 2015 season at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Friday afternoon at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course.

The Xavier women placed 10th (out of 31 teams), tying their all-time highest regional finish, while the men placed 26th (out of 30 teams).

"I was pleased with how our women's team ran today," said head coach Ryan Orner. "Our goal all season was to get back into the top-10 at regionals and they accomplished that today. It was also pretty exciting to improve by six spots from last year's regional results and stay ahead of BIG EAST rivals Butler and Marquette.

"Coming off of the high of how they ran at BIG EAST, it's hard to get too excited about 10th but overall it was a good way to finish off the season."

Caroline Gosser ended a stellar freshman campaign with a 33rd place finish (out of 215 runners), crossing the finish line a time of 21:20.4 in the 6K race. Gosser was followed by Madeline Britton (47th - 21:37.1) and Sarah Mazzei (49th – 21:38.4). Caterina Karas and Allison Sinning rounded out the scoring as Karas placed 83rd (22:16.3) and Sinning placed 96th (22:35.4).

"Individually, Caroline had a solid race," added Orner. "Her legs didn't feel as good as they did at BIG EAST so she wasn't able to crack the top-25 for all-regional honors, but I thought she ran well. She was the seventh freshman overall and has some great racing ahead of her over the next few years.

"Maddie and Sarah both had strong races as well and the team wouldn't be where it was today without the example that Sarah has set as a senior and co-captain."

Garrett Knapik led the men's team in the 10K race, crossing the finish line in a time of 33:17.1 to place 124th. William Becker was the next XU runner to finish, placing 154th in a time of 33:59.2.

"I though Garrett Knapik competed really hard today and despite loosing a shoe with 4K left in the race, he was still able to stay in contact with some of the teams we were shooting for," said Orner.

Charles Korodi was the third XU runner to finish the race as the freshman took 156th (34:01.8). The final two scorers for the Musketeers were Grayson Jenkins (158th – 34:04.7) and Aaron Peterson (169th – 34:28.6).

"On the men's side the results were similar to how they've raced all season. They were spread out early and didn't maintain contact with the middle half of the race like they needed to. Our gap from 2-5 wasn't bad, but the gap from 1-5 really hurt their overall place."