ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Friday promises to be a rivalry-packed afternoon for the Navy men's and women's cross country teams as both programs will run shoulder-to-shoulder with their service academy adversary, Army, as part of the 2021 Army-Navy Star Meets. Hosted by the Black Knights at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., the women will vie for their respective Star first at 3:45 p.m. on a 5.6k course before the men lineup and traverse a 7.6k course starting at 4:30 p.m. Friday's competitions will be the fifth and sixth Star contests as part of the 2021-22 Star Series presented by USAA. The Naval Academy holds a 3-1 lead through four early fall matchups.
Live results will be available through Leone Timing.
3:45 PM - Women's Race
Friday's race will be the 36th Army-Navy Star Meet between the two rivals. Navy has won seven of the last 10 matchups dating back to 2011 with two losses by a slim one-point margin, 27-28 and the third, by two points, 27-29 in 2020. All-time, the Mids lead the series 21-14. Head coach
Kim Lewnes will be leading the Mids for third time in this rivalry as the previous 32 Midshipmen teams were spearheaded by Karen Boyle; 1986 was the only contest in which the Mids were not coached by Boyle.
Last year's competition took place in Annapolis on October 17. Racing on a 6k trail at the USNA Cross Country Course, the visiting Black Knights were able to edge the Mids by a score of 27-29 as they compiled six of the top-10 finishers. Navy's
Emily Craig was stellar throughout the race as the then-senior cruised to a 21.02-second individual victory. Jessica Nangle and Elizabeth Sullivan gave the host Midshipmen three runners in the top-five before the Black Knights recorded four of the next five finishers to clinch the narrow victory.
In this week's USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Poll, the Mids are ranked seventh, while the Black Knights stand 10th in the Northeast Regional Poll.
(Seniors Anna Kovacs & Maddie Warrender preview the 2021 Star Meet)
4:30 PM - Men's Race
Friday will mark the 84th Star Meet in the history of the Army-Navy men's cross country rivalry. After a dominant stretch from 2009 through 2016 that saw the Mids win seven of eight meets, the Black Knights closed the gap in the all-time series with back-to-back wins in 2017 and 2018. Navy got back to its winning ways in October of 2019 to captured the 50th victory in the series. All-time Navy leads 51-31-1.
At the 2020 Star Meet in Annapolis, the host Midshipmen squad used a victory by team captain
Julian Perez and a sweep of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh positions to earn a 23-34 win at the USNA Cross Country Course. Racing on a 4.9-mile trail, the Mids' depth was key throughout the contest as their top-seven runners held spots within the top-10 for most of the event. Perez dominated the field as he cleared Army's Marshall Beatty by 11.48 seconds. The Mids' junior quartet of
Grant Van Valkenburg, Ashwin Briggs,
Luke Murphy and
Miguel Mathias clinched the victory as they finished consecutively from fourth to seventh.
This is the fourth Army-Navy meet that
Aaron Lanzel will be participating in as a head coach (2-1 record); as a student-athlete from 1999-2002, Lanzel went 4-0 in Star Meets.
In this week's USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Poll, the Mids are ranked fourth. On the opposite site of Friday's matchup, Army is sitting eighth in the Northeast Regional Poll.
(Juniors Brett Brady & Garrison Clark preview the men's action ahead of the 2021 Star Meet)
Last Time Out
Women:
Battling against some of the strongest teams in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, as well as a host of top-level national guests at the Paul Short Run, the Navy women's cross country team turned in a solid performance that saw the program finish within the top-10 on Friday. Racing on the 6k course at Lehigh's Goodman Complex as part of the collegiate gold competition, the Mids had all five of their scoring runners place amongst the top-108 in a field of 342 individuals to help the team place ninth overall.
Elizabeth Sullivan took top individual honors for the Mids on Friday as she completed the contest in a time of 20:49.0 to finish in 37th place. Near the front of the field throughout the race, Sullivan was slightly over 10 seconds out a spot in the top-25 as Northern Arizona's Annika Reiss came in 25th at 20:38.1.
Top-5 Navy Results (37th-56th-81st-101st-108th): 1) Elizabeth Sullivan; 2) Ellie Abraham; 3) Emily Boutin; 4) Jessica Nangle; 5) Winter Boese
Men:
Competing against a deep and talented field of teams and athletes from across the country at the 2021 Paul Short Run on Friday, October 1, the Navy men's cross country team placed tenth overall amongst 40 programs in the collegiate gold race. Running on the 8k cross country course at Lehigh's Goodman Complex, the Mids were led by
Brett Brady and three of his teammates finishing in the top-65 to finish with 311 cumulative team points. Brady placed 26th overall in the field of 357 competitors.
The junior Midshipman was the top finisher on Friday as he averaged a 4:48.9 per mile pace on his way to an 8k time of 23:55.9. In a tight pack at the end of the race, Brady was less than 10 seconds out of the top-12 and slightly over 25 seconds off of Utah State's Caleb Garnica's winning time of 23:29.4.
Top-5 Navy Results (26th-52nd-62nd-65th-118th): 1)
Brett Brady; 2)
Ashwin Briggs; 3)
David Nelsen; 4)
Garrison Clark; 5)
Sam Keeny
Up Next
Friday's competition marks the conclusion of Navy's regular season as both teams will turn their attention to action at the 2021 Patriot League Championship on Sunday, October 31.
