By: Brendan Burris ~Staff Writer~

On Oct. 31, the Xavier men’s and women’s cross country teams participated in the Big East Championships, which were held in Carmel, Ind.

Among the 10 Big East schools, the women’s team finished in sixth place and the men’s team finished in seventh.

The runners competed in an eight-kilometer race, with individual times and places combining to give a composite finish for each team.

The top finisher from the Xavier women’s team was senior Audrey Ramos, who finished 34th with a time of 22:41.

Ramos began her career as a walk-on and has worked her way up to being the captain of the team.
Georgetown took home first place, followed by the defending national cross-country champion, Providence.

The top finisher was Katrina Coogan from Georgetown, who finished with a time of 20:31, a pace of 5:31 per mile.

According to Ramos, the race was run on a cold and rainy day, a tough task for any team, especially for the Musketeers who have been battling recent injuries.

Ramos also noted that she was proud of her teammates.

“I hope that next year we can finish in the overall top four teams,” Ramos said.
On the men’s side, the top Xavier finisher was sophomore Aaron Peterson, whose time of 25:34, a 5:09 mile pace, was good enough for 37th place out of 83.

Four of Xavier’s runners finished in the top-50 overall times.

Villanova dominated and won the meet, followed by Georgetown and Providence. First to cross the finish line was sophomore Patrick Tiernan from Villanova, whose final time was 23:45, with a pace of 4:47 per mile.

Tiernan repeated as the Big East champion as Villanova swept the top three spots.
Four of the top-10 finishers in the men’s race were from the Wildcats, along with three Georgetown runners, two runners from Providence and one from Butler.

Ramos commented on how the men’s and women’s team have great upperclassmen with lots of room for improvement. The future looks bright for the Xavier cross-country program.

The Musketeers race again on Nov. 14, in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, which takes place in Madison, Wis.