[su_spacer size=”40″] The Georgia women will take the Furman University Golf Course at 8:30 a.m. for their first 6k of the season while the Bulldog men will run in their first 8k of 2015 at 9:15 a.m. Thirty-five collegiate men’s teams are expected to compete and 40 women’s squads will be lining up with the Lady Bulldogs.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Traveling this week for the Georgia men will be redshirt sophomore Henry Dwyer, senior Michael Giuliano, junior Jimmy Hicks, freshman Muhozi Aimable and sophomore Daniel Navarro, along with the team’s middle distance crew – redshirt freshman Terrell Estime, freshman Jeramey Hampton, senior Christian Harrison and junior Kisean Smith.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Georgia women have 17 runners slated to travel. Redshirt sophomore Morgan Ainslie, redshirt freshman Hailey Branch, freshman Allie Castro, sophomore Sara Dort, redshirt freshman Anna Gandolfo, freshman Kingsley Green, redshirt sophomore Morgan Green, sophomore Lauren Hovis, sophomore Courtney Howley, junior Lauren Kelly, senior Brooke Koblitz, sophomore Addy Lippitt, redshirt sophomore Kate Northrop, senior Erika Ramsey, sophomore Laurel Sumner, redshirt freshman Grace Tavani and redshirt freshman Lara Way will all be suiting up in red and black on Saturday morning.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “We are looking for a performance from the women this weekend like we got from the men in our opener,” said Bulldog distance coach Patrick Cunniff. “And we will be looking for some of the younger guys to get a little opportunity to develop in this one.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] This competition comes a week after Georgia opened its 2015 season at the Strut’s Season Opener, hosted by Jacksonville State, in Oxford, Ala. The Bulldog men ran away with the team victory as they finished second through seventh individually on a 5k course. The Georgia women earned runner-up honors in their 4k race with Branch leading the charge with a sixth-place individual finish in her collegiate cross debut.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In fact, the Lady Bulldogs’ five scorers only had a combined 11 career starts between them coming into the season opener. On the flip-side, fifth-year Steven Spevacek led Georgia in all six of its meets in 2014 and he was joined in the top three by fellow fifth-year senior Zack Sims and junior transfer Eric Graf, who earned All-Region honors racing for Oklahoma last year.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “We were really happy with our opener, it was a strong start,” Cunniff said. “It was a testament to how much work and how much mileage those guys ran over the summer, particularly with two fifth-year seniors in Steven and Zack leading our team. More than anything, it was nice to be out there with a deep roster after resting and redshirting some runners last year.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Last year at Furman, the Georgia women finished fourth with 59 points as Auburn took third with 58. Tayler Tuttle, who was a true freshman in 2014, led the way for the Lady Bulldogs with a sixth-place finish (21:42.11) while 2015 junior Victoria Coppage was eighth overall (21:52.36). Two spots behind Coppage was Lippitt taking 10th with a 22:01.12.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia’s final two scorers on the women’s side were Molly Schenck (16th – 22:10.57) and Castro (19th – 22:16.94).
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldog men finished fifth at the 2014 meet with 137 points. Spevacek left South Carolina with a top-10 finish as he placed ninth with an 8k time of 24:46.73. 2014 redshirt freshman Morgan Malanoski was next across the line for Georgia with a 29th-place finish (25:48.78). One of last year’s freshmen, Daniel Navarro, was the third Bulldog to finish, taking 33rd with a 25:59.40.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Michael Giuliano, whose brother David is a freshman on this year’s team, also scored in 39th place (26:09.61) while Hicks finished one spot behind Giuliano to round out the Bulldogs’ scorers after he clocked a 26:13.16.