The gun went off and Charlie Welch moved his way to the front of the pack. By the time the 100 meter start was over, Welch had already put 20 meters on the rest of the field. There was no looking back as he ran his way to a course record by half of a second. He finished in the race in 15:59.20.
While Welch ran away with the individual title, the battle for second was just as fun to watch. George Washington's Peter Neid and Stargate's Jacob Hofer battled the entire race.
Neid had just enough to put a six second gap between him and Hofer as he took him second in 17:35 with Hofer was third in 17:41. Teammates Bradford Murphy and Pablo Torre - Walker finished fourth and fifth to round out the top five.
George Washington did just enough to edge out Stargate for the team title as they put 40 points on the board while Stargate finished with 41. Turns out that taking home the individual title has its benefits for the team.
The girls race went off and it looked like George Washington was going to take home both individual titles after the first mile. But Stargate's Allison Pippert put in a strong effort from mile one to mile two and it was clear who the winner would be. She put 30 seconds between her and second place as she cruised to a 19:30 course record.
Teammates Paige Reilly and Delaney Gilfillan ran together the entire time and finished second and third in 20:00 and 20:01 respectively. St. Mary's Hana Husmann was the fourth finisher in 20:05 and Alexandra Emerson was George Washington's third runner in fifth place.
The team race was not as close on the girls side of things as George Washington placed five inside the top ten on their way to 25 points. St. Mary's was second with 44.