Navy Invite

With their opening meet already under their belt, the UMBC Cross Country teams will begin the first of three meets heading into the America East Championships to be held on November 1st at the University of Maine. After a strong start to the season at the Mount St. Mary’s Duals, both teams will look to improve upon their times and performances from last year in order to see where they stand heading into the final two meets of the regular season (Paull Short and Princeton Invites). The men will be led by a strong group of five up front. Leading the way last year at this meet was Junior Hassan Omar who just missed out on the top 10, however, look for him to be up near the lead the entire way. Keeping stride for stride with him at Mount St. Mary’s was Austin Hayslett who led the team with the second fastest 5k on grass in school history and Jon Luckin with the third fastest 5k in school history. The top five will be rounded out by Senior Eric Schuler and Sophomore Pat Duboyce. Also watch for Grad Student transfer Matt Rever and freshman Rhys Burgett to begin to close the gap on the front group. The women’s team opened with one of their fastest team performances ever, led by Sarah Daly’s near school record performance. Daly was joined by Sophomores Sophia Cologer and Katie Govatos for much of the way which should develop into a strong lead pack for the Retrievers. Add in Nicole Dawson who recorded the seventh fastest 6k time in school history last year at this meet and senior Julie Gessler and the women have their strongest Top 5 in school history. Also watch for quickly improving Katelyn Callaghan and Angelina Oputa to add to the depth of the team.

Meet Preview

Cross Country Record Book:

Men’s 5,000m 1. Brandan McGee 15:17 2. Austin Hayslett 15:28 3. Jon Luckin 15:29 4. Jake Albino 15:31 5. TJ Cowing 15:32 6. Hassan Omar 15:34 Redatu Semeon 15:34 8. Eric Schuler 15:36 9. Sam Boimov 15:37 10. Izzy Mehmedovic15:40

Men’s 8,000m 1. Hassan Omar 24:21 2. Brandan McGee 24:45 3. Andrew Smith 24:46 4. Izzy Mehmedovic 24:51 Austin Hayslett 24:51 6. Jake Albino 24:52 7. Anthony Kelhower 24:54 8. Paul Zwama 24:55 9. Tom Eldridge 24:59 10. Vinny DiSalvo 25:00

Women’s 5,000m 1. Sara Parkinson 17:47 2. Sarah Daly 17:50 3. Jen Ecker 17:52 4. Alex Hyland 17:55 5. Stefanie Thomas 18:10 6. Sophia Cologer 18:12 7. Cara Wettlaufer 18:14 8. Cody Mezebish 18:21 9. Katie Govatos 18:24 10. Kirsten McGovern 18:38

Women’s 6,000m 1. Jen Ecker 20:25 2. Alex Hyland 20:38 3. Stefanie Thomas 21:08 4. Sara Parkinson 21:20 5. Cody Mezebish 21:34 6. Suzanne Gabriel 21:53 7. Nicole Dawson 21:58 8. Sarah Zielinski 22:11 9. Keri Wilson 22:17 Cara Wettlaufer 22:17 10. Sarah Daly 22:20

Bolded names active runners

The men were led by Austin Hayslett (15:28) who recorded the second fastest 5k in school history and only six seconds off his track PR

Jon Luckin (15:29) was the second Retriever across the line in the third fastest 5k XC time in school history while Hassan Omar finished with the sixth fastest (15:34)

Sarah Daly became the second fastest Retriever of All Time after setting a massive personal best of 17:50

Sophia Cologer ran the sixth fastest time (18:12) in school history while Katie Govatos ran the ninth fastest time (18:24) in her first attempt

The men finished the meet with a 4-0 record against the field via dual meet scoring while the women finished 4-1 against the field

Austin Hayslett

Hayslett broke out last year when he finished 15th in the Conference while recording

the fourth fastest 8k in school history earlier in the season.

He started out this season with the second fastest 5k on grass

in school history (15:28).

Schedule: 10:30 AM Men’s JV Race (3.2 mi) 11:00 AM Men’s Varsity Race (8k) 11:30 AM Women’s Race (6k)

Entries: Men’s JV Race Entries: Charles Bolinger, Ethan Allnutt, Rami Phillips, Ty Thronson Men’s Varsity Race Entries: Eric Schuler, Matt Rever, Noah Hutton, Hassan Omar, Austin Hayslett, Nick Johnson, Pat Duboyce, Jon Luckin, Rhys Burgett, Brandon Bejarano, Stephen Alexander Women’s Race Entries: MK Kulp, Nicole Dawson, Julie Gessler, Katie Govatos, Harmony Roche, Cindy Alms, Katelyn Callaghan, Sophia Cologer, Chelsea Vane, Lynne Deckel, Angelina Oputa, Sarah Daly, Elise Allen, Essence Fredericks, Hannah Aris, Courtney Mattson, Olivia Richter