GREENSBORO, NC -- At the Greensboro Invitational, three of the top tier Virginia Division III college programs competed with the University of Mary Washington, Washington & Lee University, and Lynchburg College (men only). The Mary Washington men and women both finished first in the Division III team standings at the meet held at Hagan Stone Park in Greensboro. Mary Washington sophomore Allison Hazlett won the women\'s 5K race in a time of 18:43 to lead the squad to a narrow two point margin of victory over the Washington & Lee women. The Mary Washington men (32 pts) won by eight points over the Washington & Lee men (40 pts), but the Generals did run without top runner and defending NCAA South/Southeast Regional champion Nathan Johnson.
Behind race winner Hazlett, the the Lady Eagles of Mary Washington nearly put their entire top five in the top 15 places with Christy Falcone (5th, 20:13), Joanna Long (11th, 20:39), Ann Tripp (15th, 20:50), and Mary Naylor (16th, 20:55) to compile a team score of 28 points.
Only a heartbreaking two points shy of the Mary Washington women, the Washington & Lee also ran without one of their top runners like their male counterparts with freshmen Jackie Burns out as Burns ran number one for the squad in their race last weekend at Van Courtland Park. Sophomore Lindsay Erickson finished number one for the team on Saturday with a fourth place finishing time of 20:06.3. Three other Washington & Lee women finished in the top ten alongside Erickson as senior Elizabeth Twentyman (8th, 20:26.6), junior Jenny Ratzel (9th, 20:34.9), and senior Mary Christopher (10th, 20:36.4) all had solid individual runs. However, Mary Washington gained the advantage of the Washington & Lee women by placing eight runners ahead of Washington & Lee\'s fifth runner Jessica Buckingham (25th, 21:45.8).
The Mary Washington men had three top 15 finishers to lead them to the team title with sophomore Justin Kirk (7th, 26:50), senior Jason Call (9th, 26:56), and sophomore Matt Downs (12th, 27:17). Luke Wolverton (17th, 28:01) and James Rock (25th, 28:38) finished out the scoring five for Coach Soper\'s squad.
Sophomore Alex Mahoney was the top Division III finisher in the men\'s 8K race and finished third overall with a 26:34 clocking. Freshmen Michael Welsh (11th, 27:10) was the only other top 15 finisher with Mahoney for Washington & Lee. Senior Andrew Johnson (18th, 28:04), sophomore Andrew Friski (20th, 28:12), and sophomore Vance Berry (29th, 28:47) completed the team scoring for the Generals.