NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane cross country program took a good mix of experience and youth to their 2011 season opening meet at the UGA Equestrian Farm in Bishop, Ga. Freshman Paige Callahan led the way for the women's squad with a 22nd place finish overall and Max Miller placed 36th among the collegians in the men's race to lead the way for the Olive and Blue. The women's team finished fourth overall - out of eight teams - and the men's squad posted and eighth place showing out of 11 teams.
"There are couple things that are worth noting from today's meet," said Tulane head coach Eric Peterson. "We had several athletes that didn't compete last spring in track due to injury, but they are healthy now and you can see that in these results. Brian Lozes, Max Miller, Johanna Gretschel and Julia Whitrock, all four were not available for track due to injury and they are significant to our program. There is still work to do to get them back to where they want to be and it is nice to have them back in our lineup."
Callahan, a true freshman, led the way for the women's squad and placed 22nd overall in a time of 19:01.31. It is the fastest season opening 5K time for a Tulane freshman since the program was brought back in 2006, after a one year hiatus due to Hurricane Katrina. She was the 17th fastest collegian in the race and finished just ahead of junior Emmi Aguillard who covered the 5K course in 19:13.09 to place 27th overall.
Gretschel was the third Tulane runner to cross the finish line in 19:16.65 and Whitrock finished just behind her in 19:22.19, with the duo finishing 29th and 31st, respectively. Freshman Mairèad Kiernan was the final scoring runner for the Green Wave in 34th place and finished her five-kilometer run in 19:28.95.
"It is a huge benefit to the team to have some young kids on our team lead the way," said Peterson. "It is unusual to have a true freshman lead the team on the first weekend, but Paige is a very good runner and ran a solid race for her first collegiate competition. Also, Emmi (Aguillard) trained well over the summer and got off to a nice start today, which is nice to see. Julia is usually up at the front of the pack, but it is good for a team not to have a set pecking order and see some competition within the program."
The men's squad was peppered with newcomers and veterans, too, with Miller leading the way with a 63rd place showing - scoring as the 36th collegian team member overall - and a team-best time of 27:54.18. Freshman Geoffrey Zelek finished just 14-seconds behind Miller, running 28:08.65, to finish 67th overall and 40th in the team race. Lozes, who was hampered by injury last cross country season and missed the entire track and field season, was 68th overall and ran the 8K course in 28:13.80.
Freshmen Cody Gibbons (28:15.36) and Mark Manion (29:39.07) bookended senior Mike Mainguy as the final three runners for Tulane. Mainguy covered the 8K course in 28:51.28 and finished 80th overall in the race.
"We've needed to get some young guys on the men's team to get in the mix and make contributions and that happened today," said Peterson. "I know they were a little nervous coming into today and Geoffery really ran the second half of his race well. Max is probably one of the most improved guys on our team over the past year, in particular this summer he took summer classes and trained well in a tough New Orleans climate. He is capable of a lot more, but today's performance shows that he is a strong leader on this team and looking for bigger things as we move through the season."
The next competition for the Green Wave will be on Friday, September 16 at the Rice Invitational in Houston.
Men's Finishers
Place/Adj. - Name - 8K Time
63/36 - Miller, Max - 27:54.18
67/40 - Zelek, Geoffrey - 28:08.65
68/41 - Lozes, Brian - 28:13.80
70/42 - Gibbons, Cody - 28:15.26
80/50 - Mainguy, Mike - 28:51.28
93/58 - Manion, Mark - 29:39.07
Women's Finishers
Place/Adj. - Name - 5K Time
22/17 - Callahan, Paige - 19:01.31
27/21 - Aguillard, Emmi - 19:13.09
29/22 - Gretschel, Johanna - 19:16.65
31/24 - Whitrock, Julia - 19:22.19
34/26 - Kiernan, Mairead - 19:28.95
41/29 - Crabtree, Katherine - 19:35.40