Cross Country Teams Claim Sixth At BIG EAST Championships

The Marquette University men's and women' cross country teams both claimed sixth place at the BIG EAST Championships Friday morning at the WakeMed Cross Country Course in Cary, N.C.

The meet was the first of the season for both teams due to the postponement of the fall campaign due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The women's team was led by sophomore Kate Jochims, who finished 26^th, and the men's team was paced by freshman David Zeller (31^st) in his Marquette debut.

"Since this was the first meet of the season for many of the teams, I was interested to see where this group would perform compared to our peers around the league," head coach Sean Birren said. "I am extremely happy with the way both teams competed, especially the way we finished the races, and we have a great foundation to build on moving forward."

In sunny and breezy conditions with temperatures in the high 40s, the Georgetown women finished 1-2 individually with junior Sami Corman winning the 6K race with a time of 20:27.0. Sophomore Maggie Donahue was one second behind at 20:28.1. The Hoyas had three more runners from 13^th to 16^th – junior Katie Dammer (21:02.3-13th), junior Baylee Jones (21:04.7-14^th) and freshman Mary Hennelly (21:07.2). The Hoyas finished with 46 points.

Returning member Connecticut finished a close second with 48 points. Huskies' runners finished fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth – senior Randi Burr (20:50.8-5^th), freshman Jenna Zydanowicz (20:51.2-6^th), senior Danielle Jordan (20:51.4-7^th) and junior Mia Nahom (20:55.4-9^th).

Providence took third place with 61 points. The Friars placed two runners in the top 10 – senior Maria Coffin (20:44.2), who finished fourth for the second straight BIG EAST Championship, and sophomore Lily Tuck (20:54.0) who took ninth. Tuck was 11^th at the last BIG EAST meet.

Defending champion Butler finished fourth with 84 points. Junior Angelina Ellis was the top Bulldog finisher, taking 11^th at 20:57.4 with sophomore Mia Beckham 12^th at 21:00.4.

For the men's 8K, Villanova sophomore Haftu Strintzos made a late rally in the final 50 yards to clip Butler junior Barry Keane for the individual title. Strintzos finished with a time of 23:05.2. He had finished eighth in the 2019 Championship. Keane's time was 23:06.0. Butler's Simon Bedard was third (23:12.2). The Bulldogs' depth helped win the meet with junior Remi Schyns finishing fifth (23:21.2) and junior Pierre-Louis Detourb taking ninth (23:33.5). The Bulldogs finished with 35 points, while the Hoyas had 52 points. Villanova was a close third place with 54 points. The Villanova men were defending champions.

Georgetown's runner-up finish was buoyed by five runners finishing in the top 13. Junior Jack Salisbury led the way in sixth place with a time of 23:26.1. The group that finished 10^th through 13^th were, in order: freshman Jantz Tostenson (23:34.5), sophomore Shea Weilbaker (23:35.9), sophomore Quinn Nicholson (23:37.5) and freshman Parker Stokes (23:38.8).

Other top-10 finishers were UConn senior Eric Van Der Els (23:17.4-4^th), Villanova junior Josh Phillips (23:30.3-7^th) and Providence junior Marcelo Rocha (23:33.4-8^th). UConn took fourth place in its return to the BIG EAST, with 111 points.

Keep up with the Marquette University track and field and cross country programs through social media by following on Twitter (@MUTFXC) and Instagram (@MUTFXC) and 'liking' on Facebook (/mutfxc).

Marquette Women's Results
26 | Kate Jochims | 21:19.7
30 | Kendall Pfrimmer | 21:46.9
37 | Emily Foley | 22:08.7
44 | Lauren Neiheisel | 22:29.4
47 | Laurel Moneysmith | 22:44.2
48 | Emily Noone | 22:42.8
50 | Anna Penzkover | 22:48.0

Marquette Men's Results
31 | David Zeller | 24:37.1
32 | Jordan Janusiak | 24:38.3
33 | August Beyer | 24:44.5
35 | Danny Peterson | 24:47.0
37 | Paolo Tiongson | 24:51.6
43 | Dan Weizeorick | 24:59.8
45 | Thomas Leonard | 25:04.2