NEW MARKET, Va. – Longwood senior ace Gracie Piekarski extended her nine-meet stretch of top team finishes, recording her first top-20 performance of the season at the James Madison Invitational Saturday morning at New Market Battlefield Park.
 
Piekarski clocked a 21:19.90 on the 5,200-meter course to place a team-best 20th out of 52 entries, extending a two-seasons-long streak in which she has finished as Longwood's top women's runner in every race. Her 20th-place showing Saturday improved upon the 27th-place finish she earned on the same course at the 2015 James Madison Invitational, which was the first of what is now nine consecutive top team finishes for the South Plainfield, N.J., native.
 
"Despite the extreme heat and poor air quality during the race today, we all finished strong and raced really well," said Piekarski, one of just two seniors on this year's Longwood women's team. "We have a really strong team this year, and I'm excited to see what we can do as we train more and the weather starts to cool down."
 
Running on the historic New Market Battlefield, site of the 1864 Battle of New Market, the Lancers slogged through temperatures that approached 90 degrees at race time. Following Piekarski on the women's side was top freshman M.E. Lazorchak, who logged a 23:46.70 to place 41st overall and finished as Longwood's No. 2 for the second straight race.
 
Senior Marc Mawyer paced the Longwood men in 25th place, the first top finish of his four-year Lancer career. He edged freshman teammate William Verhappen, who matched his freshman women's teammate Lazorchak as Longwood's second-place men's finisher for the second straight race. Fellow freshmen Alex Dembek and Justin McFaul followed in 28th and 29th, while John Bapties rounded out the Longwood contingent in 33rd place.
 
Mawyer and Verhappen's top finishes propelled the Lancer men to a third-place team finish finishing behind winner George Mason and runner-up VMI, and ahead of fourth-place Christendom College.
 
That finish came without Longwood's top men's runner, junior Leon Beard who missed the meet with an injury. The absence was a career first for Beard, who ran a team-best 20:03.40 at this past Friday's Hokie Invitational.
 
The James Madison Invitational marks the second of three consecutive race weekends for the Lancers, who return to Blacksburg, Va., for this Saturday's Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational. That will mark Longwood's second trip to the Hokie campus in September, following up on the Sept. 2 Hoke Invitational the Lancers ran in their season opener.
 
Longwood Men's Individual Results (7.9K, 35 entries)
25. Marc Mawyer (30:23.30)
26. William Verhappen (30:36.10)
28. Alex Dembek (32:18.70)
29. Justin McFaul (32:27.50)
33. John Bapties (35:11.00)
 
Men's Team Results
1. George Mason (2:14:39.60 – 27 points)
2. VMI (2:15:11.60 – 30 points)
3. Longwood (2:40:56.60 – 91 points)
4. Christendom College (2:52:04.90 – 104 points)

Longwood Women's Individual Results (5.2K, 60 entries)
20. Gracie Piekarski (21:19.90)
41. M.E. Lazorchak (23:46.70)
44. Erica Mawyer (24:06.40)
50. Miranda Wilson (25:21.40)
57. Anna Bultrowicz (29.00.40)
 
Women's Team Results
1. James Madison (1:39:43.60 – 25 points)
2. VCU (1:42:36.80 – 50 points)
3. George Mason (1:44:13.50 – 68 points)
4. VMI (1:50:36.40 – 110 points)
5. Christendom College (2:00:07.80 – 154 points)
6. Longwood (2:03:34.80 – 156 points)

#GoWood