Cross Country sweeps Coach “O” Invite

        The Georgia State women's and men's cross country teams placed first last Saturday at the Coach "O" Invitational in Troy Ala. The men's team earned a win with an overall score of 20 while the women also earned a win with a perfect score of 15. This marks the second week of a perfect score for the women. Head Coach Chris England said his players always put in the best effort.

        "The teams are starting to feel like a dominant force," England told Georgia State Athletics. "They are eager every week to come out and prove themselves. It doesn't matter the competition, our student-athletes are always going to run hard and put forth their best effort."

         On the women's side, the top runners of this event were freshmen Hannah Stefanoff and Sarah McCarthy, and Junior Katherine Showalter. Stefanoff placed first with a time of 18:49, followed by Showalter finishing with a time of 19:18, and McCarthy with a time of 19:31. Stefanoff won an individual award just as she did at the Jaguar Invite, while she also won CAA women's Runner of the Week for the fourth time, making this a new single school record.

          Stefanoff has also made three first place finishes this season, making her stand out from the crowd.

On the men's side, they had three of the four top runners for this event.

       The top runner's for this event were sophomores Valentin Poncelet and Tyler Tomy, and senior Chris Harper. Poncelet finished with a time of 25:58, followed by Harper with a time of 26:59, while Tomy finished with a time of 27:19.

Poncelet also earned an individual award for this event, making this his second consecutive honor.

England seemed pleased with his top two runners.

         "This shows that both teams have a clear top runner," England told Athletics. "The rest of the team provides some good support. They all came to compete on a challenging course today. It's also good to know that they have better races ahead of them." Georgia State's next game will take place in two weeks in Hampton on October 29th. The women's 6K race will start at 10:45 a.m. following the men's 10K, which will start at 10 a.m.