WASHINGTON – Georgetown University men's and women's cross country programs opened the 2026 season on Saturday morning at the Spider Alumni Open at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Both teams captured second-place team finishes behind William & Mary, with the men scoring 34 points and the women tallying 71 points.

"I thought it was a solid start for the men. It was a good opportunity for us to get on the course that the Big East meet will be held on next month. It was great having Luke Ondracek back in the lineup after he missed last season. That was an incredible opener for true freshman Maxwell Friedrich. We are excited to have three hard weeks of training before our next meet at Princeton." -Head Men's Cross Country Coach Brandon Bonsey
 
"We had a short run-up to today's meet, so it felt like the band-aid was being ripped off prematurely, but we were happy to have a small group gain some familiarity with what will be this fall's Big East Championship course. Our front four worked well together, especially given it was their first time side-by-side in a race. It was great to get the Sherry sisters back onto a cross country course after a year away, and to have Banovac open her career working well with the sisters and Bennett. Given their young ages and more limited experience, today was a soft opener where the racing up front was straightforward. If they can continue to grow together and stay committed to racing as a group and then add in some teammates near them in training, then they've got a shot to extrapolate that pack-running into bigger fields as the season progresses." -Head Women's Cross Country Coach Mitchell Baker


MEN'S 6K RACE

• Georgetown placed second with 34 points, paced by top-10 performances from Birhanu Harriman, Luke Ondracek, Maxwell Friedrich and Quinn Parrish.
• Harriman (3rd) and Ondracek (4th) led the charge for the Hoyas, while Friedrich took seventh and Parrish finished ninth. Tommy Shaw crossed next in 11th, rounding out Georgetown's top five scorers.
• GU Point Scorers: Birhanu Harriman, 18:26.0 [3]; Luke Ondracek, 18:26.1 [4]; Maxwell Friedrich, 18:37.3 [7]; Quinn Parrish, 18:39.4 [9]; Tommy Shaw, 18:49.1 [11]

 
WOMEN'S 4K RACE

• The Hoyas finished second with 71 points, led by Tess Sherry in third place with a time of 14:21.5. Lauren Banovac (5th) and Emma Bennett (6th) followed right behind to give GU three runners in the top six.
• Liv Sherry crossed 13th overall, while Amalie Beil rounded out the scoring in 49th.
• GU Point Scorers: Tess Sherry, 14:21.5 [3]; Lauren Banovac, 14:28.7 [5]; Emma Bennett, 14:31.0 [6]; Liv Sherry, 14:51.5 [13]; Amalie Beil, 15:47.4 [44]

 
 
UP NEXT
Women's cross country returns to competition on September 12 in Annapolis, Maryland for the Cantello Invitational.