Cross Country Teams Set for 2019 Patriot League Championships

Saturday, November 2

Hamilton, NY

11 AM

Boston University

Patriot League Championship

Patriot League Cross Country Championship Graphic

Cross Country Teams Set for 2019 Patriot League Championships

November 1, 2019 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Championship Central Live Results

The Boston University men's and women's cross country teams will compete at the 2019 Patriot League Championships on Saturday at Colgate's Harry H. Lang Cross Country Course. The men will race at 11 a.m., followed by the women at noon.

"Every year our goal is to compete for a conference championship," head coach Paul Spangler said. "Looking at both teams, I think that's realistic. At the end of the day, we have to execute, run our race and see where the points fall."

"Out of all the weekends in the year, we put the most emphasis on this weekend," redshirt junior Brett Davidson said. "First or second place is not out of the question. I think that if we have a day and we put it all together, it could happen."

"I am extremely excited for this weekend," junior Veronica Kriss said. "This is the big race that we look forward to all season. Personally, I've been hurt the past two years for cross country, so to be able to be healthy and to make it onto the travel squad is huge."

This will be familiar territory for the Terriers, as they opened the 2019 campaign at Colgate on Sept. 7. The women emerged victorious thanks to a first-place performance by senior Abigail Gugel, while the men took third on the strength of senior Paul Luevano's victory.

"It gives the athletes confidence that they know the course, they've run it and they know what to expect," Spangler said. "It may give us a little bit of an advantage going in, but I wouldn't put a lot of weight into it. At the end of the day, we've got to go out and execute and so do the other teams."

The women will enter the race with plenty of momentum after a victory at the Princeton Invitational on Oct. 19.

"That was our first big invitational win," Kriss said. "We knew we did well, but we didn't know we won until we finished the race and I asked Coach Spangler how we did. We were all so excited because all that hard work that we had done since the summer had paid off."

Gugel and freshman Sophia Jacobs-Townsley finished fourth and seventh, respectively, at Princeton, with freshman Andrea Claeson, junior Corinne Batsu and freshman Joceline Wind all placing in the top 30. That was Wind's first collegiate race, and her addition to the lineup may prove to be the difference for the Terriers on Saturday.

"Having Joceline compete at Princeton was huge for us because it cut down our distance in time from our one to our five," Spangler said. "That's going to be critical. We're pretty strong up front. We're going to rely on Joceline and Laura Parkinson, who have been our five and six over the last couple weeks."

Depth will also be important for the men, who will look to better than runner-up finish at last year's championship meet. The Terriers were fourth at Princeton thanks to Davidson's seventh-place showing and a strong race from senior and 2017 Patriot League champion Paul Luevano.

"I think that everyone has been getting a little more swagger every week," Davidson said. "Training has been going well. We've been running really well as a team. Paul and I have been running really well together, and after that there's been a really strong pack that we've never really had before.

"If Paul and Brett do their job up front, they'll score some low points for us which will be important," Spangler said. "We're going to be counting on a lot of experience and a lot of youth in the three, four and five spots with freshmen Foster Malleck and Kevin Murphy, as well as older guys like Greg Pelose, Joe Grandizio and Marcel Aubry."

A lot of people have been talking about the depth of our team, because from our third guy to our 10^th guy, there really isn't that much room," Davidson added. "We're really excited about that."

Jacobs-Townsley and Malleck will be the two rookies to watch on Saturday, as both have enjoyed terrific debut seasons. Jacobs-Townsley is a three-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week and was also chosen as the Runner of the Week once. Malleck earned Rookie of the Week accolades after his collegiate debut at Colgate.

"They were both pretty good out of high school," Spangler said. "I don't know if what they've done this year was unexpected. We expected them to come in and make an immediate contribution and I'm glad to see that they've transitioned well to the collegiate level."

After an important week off to both physically and mentally prepare for the conference championship, the Terriers are ready to attack the race on Saturday.

"We took fourth last year as a team and I know that we're capable of a lot more this year," Kriss said. "Knowing that we can do a lot better this year is a huge motivator for us. The goal is to win."

"I'm really excited," Davidson said. "We've been working really hard all year and we've had a great season. People have been performing the way they should in each race. I've been really proud of the guys. There's been a lot of progress from our first race to now and I think if we do what we need to do, we should be successful."