Mustangs Run Well in Penn.

The George Mason High School cross country teams fared well at the Gettysburg Invitational in Pennsylvania last Saturday. The girls team finished eighth out of 24 teams while the boys squad placed 15th out of 29 schools.

Head Coach Julie Bravin believes that the 15th-place finish does not reflect how well the boys team did.

“I’m really happy with the way they ran,” Bravin said. “It was a great meet on a very nice course and the competition is very tough.”

Mason’s three senior captains led the boys team finishing one through three on the team. John Sullivan posted a time of 17:47 while Jon Byers and Chad O’Hara finished with times of 18:20 and 18:56 respectively. Rounding out the varsity finishers were Steven Newhall, Alex Nette, Bryan Collins and Josh Jenkins.

In a contrasting performance, three newcomers lead the girls team. Freshman Susanna Sullivan and sophomore Emma Goetz (a regional qualifier on the track team) turned in times of 22:03 and 22:07. Sarah Sullivan (Susanna’s older sister) finished at 22:31. Kaity Hauter, Jessie Porzel, Emily Walden and Nikki Williamson also turned in strong performances according to Bravin.

“We showed a lot of team spirit and ran extremely well,” Bravin said. “We can see where we need to make adjustments and improve but it’s definitely going to be a fun season.”

The Mustangs will next compete Wed. Sept. 22 at Strasburg.