Towson takes seventh
By: Muhammad Waheed, Staff Writer
Featured image courtesy of towsontigers.com
Towson finished seventh out of nine teams with 180 points in the 2017 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Cross Country Championships hosted by Elon on Saturday, Oct. 28.
Senior Emily Johnson, sophomore Erica Israel and junior Abby Gauthier were the top performers during the meet. Johnson finished first for the Tigers and 21st overall with a time of 22:25.10. This was the third fastest time of Johnson’s career. Israel finished just three spots behind Johnson, while Gauthier finished 36th overall.
“Emily Johnson had a great day,” Head Coach Mike Jackson said. “[This was] her first time being the top runner on the team. Erica Israel has been consistent all year, was normally our top runner this year. This meet she was second. And then Abby Gauthier was third so those were our top three.”
Towson placed fifth in the CAA Championship meets last year and Jackson noted some reasons for dropping two spots this time around.
“I think anytime you go backwards in place it’s disappointing,” Jackson said. “We graduated some pretty good people last year, and we’re young in many areas and I think it’s just a learning experience for us and we’ll move forward.”
The Tigers have two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The event begins at noon Friday, Nov. 10.
“I just think being able to run well at championship meets,” Jackson said. “That’s what we need to get better at in cross country and everybody needs to understand that they play a part in what we do as a team so you know we had some gaps from our third to fourth runner, but you know I’m confident that we’ll get better as time goes on.”
