BETHLEHEM, PA - Liberty freshmen Josh McDougal simply does not understand the concept of losing. Not that it is a bad quality as McDougal went on to win his third consecutive major invitational collegiate victory in as many races in his young career at the prestigious and competitive Paul Short Invitational. Considered annually as one of the premier collegiate cross country meets on the East Coast with many of the nation\'s best teams and individuals competing in the event, Liberty\'s McDougal made easy work of the competition as he blazed to a scorching 8 kilometer time of 23:43.53.
While McDougal was the top finisher from a Virginia college, two runners with Virginia high school ties who had strong individual races were Princeton University\'s Austin Smith and Georgetown University\'s Fleet Hower. Smith, a graduate of Midlothian High School and Hower, a graduate of Marion High School, crossed the line nearly in the same time for top 10 finishes with Smith in 7th at 24:14.29 and Hower in 8th at 24:14.85.
William & Mary sophomore Adam Tenerowicz led a split squad Tribe with a tenth place individual performance of 24:17.68. The Tribe were top finishing Virginia men\'s team with an eighth place team score of 171. Also having strong runs for William & Mary were David Murphy (24th, 24:48.85), Jon Healey (34th, 24:57.29), Sean Anastasia-Murphy (51st, 25:09.59), and David Mock (52nd, 25:10.33). Paul Short was an exceptionally strong race of Mock, who is one of the Tribe\'s top freshmen in this year\'s class.
Liberty University was the second highest finishing men\'s squad from Virginia with 470 points. The Flames\' team score could have been dropped significantly if they had shirted Josh McDougal\'s brother, Jordan, who ran unattached while winning the college open race in a solid time of 25:26.76.
Virginia Commonwealth University\'s mean team finished in 23rd place with 637 points. The Rams were led by two sub 26 performances by senior Daniel Ndungu (58th, 25:15.62) and freshmen Steven Walters (94th, 25:47.61).
University of Richmond junior John Ciccarelli individually had a superb race to finish in the top 20 with 19th place finishing time of 24:37.03 to lead the Spiders. As a team, Richmond finished 24th overall in the competitive 36 team field.
The Christopher Newport University men performed well despite missing one of their top returning runners, while another had an off day on the course. The Captains finished 8th among Division II/III teams and 28th overall in the team scoring. The CNU men were led to the line by freshmen Jay Wyss, who ran a personal best time of 26:02.56 for 113th place.
Not too far behind CNU as the next highest Division II/III team was Lynchburg College. The Hornets were led by senior Brian Flynn, who looks ready to make a run at another individual NCAA National berth this year after dipping under 26 for the first time at Paul Short in a time of 25:59.48 for 111th place.
The William & Mary women were looking to the Paul Short meet as a way to make a statement to the national ranking pollsters and appear to have done just that with their performance at Lehigh. Heading into the meet sitting outside of the top 25 rankings, the Tribe were able to finish fourth overall in the meet and beat out several ranked teams including #15 Georgetown University and #27 Yale University. Tribe sophomore Julia Cathcart appears to be having a breakout season as she finished fifth individually in the race with a stellar time of 20:52.70. Fellow sophomore Megan Bishop (19th) and senior Jacke Kosakowski (22nd) put forth top 25 efforts for the Tribe with times of 21:28.10 and 21:30.50 respectively, while juniors Kristyn Shiring (33rd, 21:53.97) and Karen Pulliam (56th, 22:15.77) rounded out the William & Mary women\'s scoring five.
A Caitlyn Chock-less University of Richmond squad had a solid showing of eighth place in the team standings with 262 points. The Lady Spiders were led by two sub 22 minute performers in sophomore Amanda Russell (25th, 21:39.40) and junior Nicole Kurtain (37th, 21:57.17). More youth rounded out the Spider\'s next finishers with freshmen Kate Merrill (50th, 22:10.18), freshmen Kylee Schuler (72nd, 22:33.60), sophomore Nicole Erby (78th, 22:41.80), and freshmen Shelby Faircloth (86th, 22:47.70).
The Liberty women finished 16th overall with 374 points as they were paced by a trio of runners under 22:30 in senior Samantha Pelletier (46th, 22:05.83), freshmen Danielle Jordan (62nd, 22:19.57), and Sarah Roberts (67th, 22:28.09).
The CNU women finished 28th overall and 3rd among Division II/III teams as they were led by junior Emily Low who dipped under 23 minutes for the first time with a 22:56.71 clocking as Low was the fourth finishing Division II/III athlete in the competitive field. Freshmen teammate Bridgett Dryer continues to drop her times as the season progresses as she helped further the team\'s cause with her time of 23:29.53.