LAKEWOOD, NJ (Oct. 20, 2023) - Georgian Court Cross Country will be the first GCU team to compete for a conference championship in 2023-24. The Lion men will be looking to repeat as conference champions after winning their first title in 2022.

When
Sunday, Oct. 22 - 9 a.m.
Men's Race - 9 a.m.
Women's Race - 10 a.m.

Where
Philadelphia, Pa. - Belmont Plateau

Distance
Men - 8K (Map)
Women - 5K (Map)

CACC Championship History   
• Since the year 2000, Georgian Court women have won six Cross Country Championships. Those came in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.
• The men hoisted their first trophy in 2022.
• The men's trophy was also the first for Head Coach Mike Murawski in cross country.
• Since 2000, only five men's teams and four women's teams have won team titles. For the women, Jefferson leads the way with 12 championships, including seven of the last eight. Felician stopped that streak last year.
• The Felician men have won the most championships with nine.

Last Year's CACC Championship
• Georgian Court men were victorious scoring 59 team points. The edged Jefferson by just six points.
• Kyle Spector, Alec Valle and Xavier Seals all finished in the top-10.
• The Lions fourth and fifth runners, Will Spector and Kevin Knoetig, positioned themselves ahead of a pair of Jefferson runners which proved to be the difference in the scoring.
• Tilak Datta from Cladwell was the individual champion on the men's side. He ran 26:30.8.
• For the women, Felician were the team champions as Jefferson again placed second. The Golden Falcons totaled 34 points and won by just seven.
• Felician's Briseidy Balderas won running 20:02.4.
• Amirah Beasley and Brenna Sullivan finished nine seconds apart. Beasley finished 20th overall and Sullivan 22nd.
• All five Lions that ran set season-best times at the 5K distance in the race.

Last Time Out
• It was another historic day for GCU Cross Country. The men's 8K record fell at the Rowan Border Battle.
• Xavier Seals and Alec Valle both actually broke the record. Seals though is the new record holding after running 25:35.6. Valle, who was second all-time entering the race, is still second, though with a new personal-best time 25:40.2.
• Seals and Ryan Pettrow swept the CACC Athlete of the Week awards. Pettrow was the freshman of the week after his personal-best time in the 8K 27:37.9.
• Two women also set personal-bests at the 6K distance. Amirah Beasley ran 25:44.0, breaking 26 minutes for the first time and was the CACC Female Runner of the Week.
• Niya Barden ran a PR too as she and Madalin Jones finished back-to-back. Barden ran 27:05.4.

Lions This Season
• It's been a great season thus far for Georgian Court Cross Country.
• They started the year with three races in 14 days.
• They then took 21 days off before racing again and are now in the midst of three races in 15 days.
• Of late, the Lions have been very strong. The men have finished in the top-three in each of the last two races and two Lions have broken the school 8K record.
• Alec Valle had been the Lions top runner for each of the first four meets. Xavier Seals led the team for the first time at Rowan.
• Kyle Spector hasn't been far behind, finishing in second or third for GCU in each race.
• Of late, a pair of freshman, Ryan Pettrow and Max Salgado-Vidal, have been the Lions fourth runner. They've shaved major minutes off their 8K times from earlier in the season.
• GCU has also had great seasons from Joseph Jamolawicz, Riley Keffer, Dylan Navarro and Thomas Rosky. They've all set a personal-best this season at at least one distance.
• The women have been led by Amirah Beasley in each race. She's had a breakthrough with personal-bests at both the 5K and 6K.
• The addition of Remi Reinhardt has been a boon to the Lions. Running in her first cross country season, Reinhardt has been the Lions second runner in each race she's appeared in. 
• Like Beasley, Niya Barden has also set personal-bests at the 5K and 6K distances. Sophomore Brenna Sullivan and junior Madalin Jones have each run personal-bests in their last 5K race.

Georgian Court vs. the CACC
• The Lions have seen a number of CACC teams throughout the season and fared well.
• They saw their most at the Philadelphia Metro in September where the men were second among eight CACC teams and the women fifth.
• GCU finished ahead of Goldey-Beacom and Holy Family to start the season on the men's side at the Stockton Opener.
• Georgian Court's last two races have been inside their home state of New Jersey. At the NJIT Highlander Challenge, the Lion men were first among the five CACC teams and the women third.

Regional Rankings
• The GCU men are back in the USTFCCCA East Region Rankings.
• Georgian Court ranked 10th in the region for the second time this season.
• GCU was also ranked 10th after the first week of rankings.
• The most recent rankings are from Oct. 10. That is the last set of rankings the USTFCCCA does before conference championships.

About the Meet
• The CACC does things a little differently. They are one of the only conferences that allow just seven per team to race.
• They are also one of the only conferences where the women race at the 5K distance. 

About the Course
• The course has a mix of grass, trails and challenging hills.
• Georgian Court raced on this course at the Philly Metro Championship back on Sept. 10.
• Kyle Spector came in second place overall and Alec Valle finished 10th.
• The women ran as a group for much of the race. All six who finished were separated by just 20 places and runners 2-4 were separated by just five places.