Bulldogs Face Toughest Challenge Yet At Paul Short Run

ATHENS, Ga. --- The Georgia cross country teams will travel to the 49^th annual Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, Pa., on Friday in anticipation for their Saturday morning races.

Lehigh University will play host to the competition on the Murray H. Goodman Campus.  The event is expected to feature 450 college and high school teams with a combined 5,515 entries.

When Do The Starting Guns Fire: The Bulldog men will race in their first 8k of the year during the Men's College Gold Race at 11 a.m. ET while the Lady Bulldogs are set to line up in the Women's College Gold 6k Race at 11:45 a.m.  This is the women's first 6k of the season after opening with a pair of 5k races.

Who Is The Competition: While No. 7 Villanova on the men's side and No. 11 Georgetown and No. 24 Utah Valley on the women's side are the only teams currently ranked in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) polls, this meet will be an opportunity for Georgia to secure valuable regional points as the postseason nears.

Weather: With rain predicted overnight in Bethlehem, temperatures on Saturday are expected to be in the low 60s with cloudy skies.

Chorny's Thoughts: "This will be a much different setting for us compared to our first two races this year," said Chorny.  "The Paul short invitational is a strong historic race with lots of great teams on a very fast course, so we go in expecting to see (personal record) performances from everyone.  The team continues to show steady progress at a level better than they've seen before and I know their confidence is high.  We are, however, coming off of a heavy training cycle so this will be our first chance to see them perform with some heavier training under their belts.  Ultimately, the lineup offers a chance to compete against some good teams, and it will give us a chance to see where we really stack up."

This meet comes after Georgia swept the Gamecock Challenge on Sept. 15 and went first and third at the Stan Sims Opener on Sept. 1 with a performance that featured a Bulldog individual meet winner on the men's side.  Now, the Bulldogs will face their greatest challenge yet.

"In a big race like this, you have to balance between getting out fast enough to be connected with the proper group of runners, but also not blowing it out to the point where you are over your head and struggling the rest of the race.  It takes mature racing and patience in order to stay within yourself and not get caught up in the excitement of the first 800 meters.  As a coach, this will be my first time at this race so it will be important to preview the course the day before."

Chorny sees Saturday's action as a stepping stone to their final two regular season meets as well as the postseason.

"If they keep their wits about them, we should see our group racing strong to the finish and walking away with even more confidence as we enter the last part of the regular season.  This race is, of course, just another step on our way to becoming the best team we can be at SECs and the South Region."

What Dogs Are Competing: Georgia is expecting to have 20 runners competing.  On the women's side, seniors Charlotte Augenstein, Sophia Baker, Gracie O'Neal, sophomores Lily Cincola, Nina Ouellette, Simone Rojas, Lorel Golden, Katherine Law, Audrey Knoper and freshman Ella Kepple will represent the Red and Black.

Seniors Chase Condra, Wesley John, juniors Cole Heron, Zack Truitt, K.C. Heron, Zachary Roe, sophomores Ethan Nordman, and freshmen Ryan Olree, Kushan Patel and Luke Churchwell will take the course for the Bulldog men.

SEC Weekly Honors: A pair of Bulldogs have received Southeastern Conference weekly honors this season.  Condra's first collegiate victory to lead the Bulldogs to a team win at the Stan Sims Opener earned him SEC Men's Co-Runner of the Week.  Olree was named the league's SEC Freshman Runner of the Week after grabbing the top freshman finish (sixth overall) at the Gamecock Challenge.

FAR & Away The Best: The women's cross country teams won the Faculty Athletics Representatives (FAR) Award for earning UGA's highest team GPAs for the 2022-23 academic year.  In fact, the Lady Bulldogs posted a 3.72 GPA over the fall and spring semesters giving them the best team GPA for any academic year in UGA history and the fourth honor of this kind for the team since the 1992-93 academic year.

Individual Academic Accolades As Well: Junior Cooper Bocko, a native of Comming, Ga., was named the male recipient of the 2023-24 Joel Eaves Scholar-Athlete Award.  The award is presented to the male and female (soccer's Morgan Hart) student-athletes with the highest GPA upon entering the fall semester of his or her senior year, based on academic hour.

Bocko is a Computer Science major who scored in five meets for the Bulldogs last season, including the SEC Championships and the NCAA South Regional.

Last Trip To Paul Short Run: Georgia last traveled to Pennsylvania for the Paul Short Run during the 2019 fall.  The Lady Bulldogs scored 250 points and finished seventh in the Gold race out of 43 teams.  The men's squad were 27^th out of 45 teams.  Jessica Drop was the top individual finisher after she earned runner-up honors with a 6k time of 19:43.5, which was only six seconds behind the winner in the 377-woman field.  Nicholas Yanek led the Bulldog men after his 24:02.6 earned him 34^th place in the 395-man field.

Last Time Out: Both Bulldog teams won their races and Cole Heron recorded his first collegiate victory at the Gamecock Challenge on a course around the Charwood Golf Club in Columbia, S.C.

Heron notched a nine-second win over his teammate Zachary Roe on the 6k course with a 17:48.5.  The Georgia men scored a perfect tally of 15 points by taking first, second, third, fifth and sixth (fourth-place finisher raced unattached) on a 6k course.  The Bulldogs had The Citadel (50), South Carolina State (96) and Claflin (99) finished behind them.

The Lady Bulldogs went 3-4-5-6-7 to win in the first race of the morning with 25 points as South Carolina (34), The Citadel (88) and South Carolina State (115) took second through fourth place.

Augenstein led the Georgia women for the second time this season and the fourth time in her career.  She registered a 16:52.8 to be one of three racers who finished under 17 minutes.  Baker was next across the line, taking fourth with a 17:05.6.  O'Neal, who joined Baker and Augenstein as scorers in the opener as well, finished fifth after clocking a 17:06.4.

Coming in sixth place overall for the Lady Bulldogs was Golden, whose seventh meet for UGA resulted in a 17:07.1.  Law rounded out the scorers for Georgia as she finished seventh with a 17:12.3, which allowed her to score for the first time this season.

On the men's side, Heron's triumph came in the sixth collegiate race of his career and only the second race for the Pope High School graduate in the last two years.  Roe, whose time was 17:57.3, crossed the finish line as Georgia's second finisher for the second meet in a row.  Heron's twin brother K.C. Heron was next to finish, earning bronze honors with a 18:03.5.

A sophomore and a freshman, respectively, completed the scoring for the Bulldogs with Nordman slipping into the top five for the first time in 2023 with a 18:07.7.  Racing in just his second collegiate race, Olree scored for the first time in his career with an 18:10.5.

What's Up Next: There will be no home meet this season for the Bulldogs.  Georgia's final regular season competition after Paul Short will be at the Crimson Classic (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) on Oct. 13.

Following the SEC Championships (Columbia, S.C. – Oct. 27), Georgia will make the trip to Gainesville, Fla., for the NCAA South Regional on Nov. 10.  Those who qualify will continue their season at the NCAA Championships, which Virginia will play host to in Charlottesville, Va., on Nov. 19.

Keeping Up With The Dogs: Updates from Georgia's track and field and cross country teams can always be found on Twitter/Instagram (UGATrack).  Please visit georgiadogs.com for any other information regarding the Bulldogs.

University of Georgia Athletics

Bulldogs Face Toughest Challenge Yet At Paul Short Run

Players Mentioned

Charlotte Augenstein

Sophia Baker

Cooper Bocko

Luke Churchwell

Lily Cincola

Chase Condra

Lorel Golden

Cole Heron

Wesley John

Ella Kepple

Audrey Knoper

Katherine Law

Ethan Nordman

Gracie O'Neal

Ryan Olree

Nina Ouellette

Kushan Patel

Zachary Roe

Simone Rojas

Zack Truitt

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