MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.- The Ave Maria University cross country teams began their 2021 seasons on Saturday morning, running in the St. Thomas University Cross Country Invitational. The men's team left Miami Gardens with the team victory, topping three other teams in the field. The women's field was tops among NAIA schools, and finished second overall behind NCAA Division II Nova Southeastern University.
The AMU men earned the team title by three points, edging out Nova Southeastern 26 points to 29. The race's top ten runners all came from either the Gyrenes or the Sharks, but AMU's three top five finishers helped to give the Gyrenes the edge. Florida National University placed third with 94 points, while host St. Thomas University placed fourth with 100 points.
Leading the way for the Gyrenes, in his first collegiate race, was freshman Jackson Pope. The Naples native finished the 5k course in 17:10.82, good for individual runner-up honors behind Nova's Joseph Salerno. Pope's time was the third-fastest 5k time in school history, behind two times from four-time NAIA National Championship qualifier Gabriel Hogan.
Following Pope was sophomore Adam Paga, whose 17:21.58 time was good for third overall. Reigning First Team All-Sun Conference selection Joseph Perreault finished fifth at 17:31.83, while Thomas Walter logged a seventh place finish (17:54.20) in his AMU debut. Ave Maria's team score was rounded out by ninth-place finisher Jonathan Kohr, who ran the St. Thomas course in 18:08.72.
Nova Southeastern, the lone NCAA Division II entrant in the race, placed seven runners in the top ten to run away with the team title. Ave Maria was comfortably in second, using two top-ten finishes to record 48 points. Florida National placed third with 80 points, while the hosts from St. Thomas were again in fourth place with 103 points on the day.
As has become the norm over the past few years, Mary Goetz was Ave Maria's top finisher. The three-time NAIA National Championships qualifier finished second in the 5k race, crossing the finish line at 20:11.09. Goetz was the only NAIA runner to finish St. Thomas' course in under 21 minutes, with only Ivanova Yanes from Nova Southeastern (19:51.27) finishing ahead of the senior.
AMU's next three finishers to power the runner-up title were all freshmen. Lily Burke logged a top-ten finish in her collegiate debut, placing ninth at 21:17.08. Lucia Zvonar followed at 23:01.35, and Abigail Rail was right behind her at 23:05.65. The only other returner to contribute to the scoring for Ave Maria was Marianna Orth, who ran the STU course in a time of 23:26.13.
Ave Maria is back in action in one week, the second of a stretch where the Gyrenes will compete four times in five weekends. The Gyrenes will head to Macon, Georgia to compete in the Middle Georgia Invitational. The starting gun is set to go off in Macon at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.
