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American Cross Country Runs Tough
Men First, Women Second in George Mason Fall Classic

Meet Stats | Oct. 6, 2001

CENTREVILLE, VA -- What started out as an overcast, gloomy morning turned into a beautiful day for American cross country at Bull Run Regional Park in Virginia. The men's team won the George Mason Fall Classic with ease over Delaware while the women fell one point short and finished in second.

The men took the top three places in the meet. Junior Sean O'Brien and sophomores Frank Malpigli and Matt Seymour broke away from the field at the three mile mark. "I just looked over at the guys and said lets break this pack," Malpigli said about the move made. It worked as they put over twenty seconds on their closest competitor.

O'Brien led the way for the Eagles, finishing in 25:34.66. Malpigli was close behind in 25:35.28 and Seymour ran 25:43.89. Jovens Colas ran the fastest time of his career on a cross country course, finishing in eighth place with a time of 26:39.25. Freshman Sean Duffy placed thirteenth (26:47.15) and junior Chad Young was 20th (27:08.13). In his first cross country race in college, freshman Matt Barresi ran 27:25.85 to finish in 25th place.

Running by herself and through a strong wind and occasional rain, sophomore Jen Baclawski led the way for the Eagles finishing third with a time of 18:20.35. Baclawski was the first collegiate runner to cross the line behind two unattached athletes. Fellow sophomore Jessica Daniel ran an excellent race, moving up through the pack the entire time. Daniel finished eighth with a time of 19:44.43.

Close on Daniel's heels was freshman Heidi Fishpaw who ran an outstanding race to finish in ninth place (19:47.65). Sophomore Leah Heinecke-Krumhus continued her strong running, finishing in tenth place and running a time four seconds faster than the previous week (19:50.48).

Freshman Megan Simpson also ran four seconds faster than last week's race on the same course, finishing in fourteenth place (20:00.75). Junior Erin Hickey was in nineteenth place (20:31.89) and freshman Siobhan Uniacke placed 22nd (20:56.03). Freshman Lindsay Gilman placed 26th (21:25.91) and Brittany Scott was 31st (23:26.57) in her first collegiate race.

"This was a good team effort," Baclawski said after the race. "We worked well together and pushed ourselves during the race."

American returns to action Saturday, Oct. 13, when it travels to nearby College Park, Md. for the Maryland Invitational.