Men’s cross country team finishes 10th in ASICS/UC Irvine Invitational featuring 800 runners in Los Angeles

On Sept. 10, the men’s cross country team placed ninth out of 10 teams at the ASICS/UC Irvine Cross Country Invitational in Los Angeles.

The five men who were chosen to attend this competition were senior Daniel Horseman, senior Colin Conroy, sophomore Philip Laskey, sophomore Tucker Forbes and senior Travis Knight.

Finishing the 8k race first for the Bobcats was Horseman, who finished  24th place with a time of 27:11, just two minutes after the leader crossed the finish line.

Coming in behind Horseman was Conroy, who finished with a time of 27:45 in 47th place. Conroy was followed by Laskey, who took 54th place with a time of 28:30. Forbes was next for the Bobcats, finishing 57th with a time of 28:53. Knight brought up the rear with a time of 29:22, taking the 62nd spot.

California Baptist University took first place in the race. GC’s overall score was just five points behind Glendale Community College who took eighth with 244 team points.

The course was changed the day of the meet due to several severe weather delays with thunder and lightning. The delay, however, only lasted about half an hour before the meet was allowed to continue.

Despite the severe thunderstorm warnings, the team seemed to prefer competing in the mild climate of the west coast.

“The weather was better (than Georgia), much more mild and enjoyable,” Horseman said.

“It feels much more like cross country weather when you’re out there warming up in a sweatshirt,” Conroy said.

The atmosphere of the ASICS/UC Irvine Invitational was very crowded and had nearly 800 runners present, with 200 competitors in each wave.

“It’s just exciting to be in a totally different environment, and running against different schools,” Conroy said.

“There are tons of spectators cheering, people everywhere,” Horseman said. “It really gets your adrenaline pumping, especially when you hear people cheering your name.”

The GC women could be seen at all the check points, cheering their fellow Bobcats on.

“They are always pulling for each other,” Head Coach Joe Samprone said. “While the women are running, the guys run from mile marker to mile marker giving the girls their times. Every person has their own personal goal for each mile. And when the guys are running, the girls do the same thing for them.”

Georgia College was the only school present from the Peach Belt Conference. They were also the team that had traveled the farthest to compete at the ASICS/UC Irvine Cross Country Invitational. The meet consisted of several DI, DII and DIII schools, as well as several junior colleges and individual runners.

The men’s team is already preparing for their next tournament, which takes place in Macon at Mercer University on Sept. 17.

Posted by JessicaHayman on Sep 15 2011. Filed under Other, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.