By Taylor Nigrelli
Assistant Sports Editor
Saturday was not ideal for the cross country teams as they suffered a key injury and finished last among qualifying teams at the Mason Invitational in Leesburg, Virginia.
The men’s team lost their top runner when sophomore Nick Masiello dropped out mid-race due to a leg injury. Masiello will be x-rayed today. Coach Bob Macfarlane said he hopes the injury isn’t season threatening and is taking precautions to ensure it doesn’t get worse.
“He’s run through leg pain all summer,” Macfarlane said. “We’ll see how the x-ray goes, and we’re going to keep him out next meet. Hopefully, he’ll be ready to run at the Atlantic 10 Championships.”
Macfarlane anticipates Masiello pushing to run as early as possible.
“Nick is a warrior,” Macfarlane said. “He goes hard. He’s going to want to run right away.”
In Masiello’s absence, sophomore Harley Thompson paced the Bonnies’ men with a time of 27:49. Freshmen Joe Ferencik, Caleb Lecker and Kevin Sidoran weren’t far behind with times of 28:10, 28:49 and 28:50 while sophomore Steven Kibbe and freshman Nick Konotopskyj rounded out the scoring by running 29:05 and 29:35, respectively.
Freshman Kerry Caher led the women’s team in her first 6k race running a 24:17. Junior Kady Weisner was next with a time of 24:23 while team captain sophomore Hannah Robinson, freshman Aubrie Russell and sophomore Elizabeth Dickinson also scored for the Bonnies.
Macfarlane was somewhat disappointed with the results but blames them on team fatigue.
“Excluding La Salle, we could have finished anywhere on Saturday,” Macfarlane said. “We just happened to not run as well that day. A lot of our kids felt very tired. We’ve been training hard, lifting two days a week plus practicing every day.”
However, the third-year coach believes the upcoming midterm break can help alleviate this problem.
“I can tell the season is catching up to the freshmen,” Macfarlane said. “Midterm break is coming at a good time for them. Hopefully they’ll get some rest and it will rekindle their spirit.”
Upon further review of the timesheet, Macfarlane gained a little more hope for the future.
“Looking at the guys that beat us, there are a lot of seniors,” Macfarlane said. “In college there’s a huge difference between freshmen and seniors. It’s man vs. boys, but that type of experience really pays off.”
The teams won’t race again until next Saturday at Gettysburg. This race will be another 6k for the women and an 8k for the men. Macfarlane anticipates a better showing from the team in the upcoming race.
“We’re looking for better times, especially for the girls’ second 6k,” Macfarlane said. “The course is much flatter than George Mason so we should be seeing faster times.”
While the men will be without their top runner; the women may also be shorthanded.
Sophomore Emily Steves is not cleared to participate in the race yet, after sitting out the Mason Invitational. According to Macfarlane, these absences provide the opportunity for another runner to elevate his or her performance.
Somebody’s going to need to step up,” Macfarlane said. “When that window of opportunity arises, you have to make sure you take advantage of the situation.”
The coach already envisions a few members of the men’s team filling out the now vacant first and last scoring slots.
“I have a feeling either (junior) Chris Spiker, (sophomore) Matt Trifoso or (sophomore) Dan Myers will fill out that seventh spot,” Macfarlane said. “I expect Harley to step up in that first spot. He’s finally worked himself all the way back from injury. Ferencik is going to give everything he has to beat Harley. Competition is what we want to see.”
However,Macfarlane doesn’t limit the possibility of improvement to just those runners.
“This is the time to step up for everybody,” Macfarlane said. “That window of opportunity closes pretty fast and if you don’t take advantage of it, it may never come again.”
