The GW men’s and women’s cross country teams both finished in 10th place at the Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championships in Philadelphia – the most important meet of the season. La Salle won the men’s race, and Massachusetts won the women’s race.

I think everyone ran below their abilities, said senior Jeff McCarthy, who was pleased with his performance, finishing the race seventh overall.

The mood expressed by many of the players was disappointment and confusion. The players were bothered that nobody seemed to have an answer as to what happened over the weekend.

It’s hard to tell what went wrong, McCarthy said. There is no question the teams were ready physically. Maybe it was that we weren’t ready mentally. I was talking with James (Moniz), and we both agreed the team was capable of performing well. I don’t know exactly what went wrong.

GW head coach Jim Hopkins could not be reached for comment.

Physically we were ready for this race, said junior Erin Farrelly. Mentally we were not. But besides that, I don’t know. I thought we were ready.

The inability to fuse the mental with the physical plagued the team all year. Two weeks prior, at the ECAC/IC4A meet in New York, it was McCarthy who said the team looked flat and tired. But Coach Hopkins said last week that the teams were training well, and that they were prepared for A-10s. Most runners agreed.

Senior Julie Ann Laurance, who placed 38th, acknowledged that the teams were disappointed and that it was tough to put a finger on what went wrong.

The teams will run their last races Nov. 13 at the NCAA Regionals. Hopkins said last week that if the teams ran poorly at the A-10 Championships, it would be extremely hard to get ready for NCAAs because the teams would be running without confidence.