UR Wins A-10 Men’s Cross Country Championship

The University of Richmond men’s cross country team won the Atlantic 10 Championship on Friday, March 5, for the first time since 2010, with head coach Steve Taylor subsequently being awarded the “Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year”. 

“It was one of the most exciting experiences for me as a coach and I’ve been doing this for over 30 years,” head coach Steve Taylor said. “All the indicators throughout the season were pointing towards something really fantastic happening on Friday. All 10 men ran personal bests by a massive amount.” 

The race was held at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, making it the third time the team has ran the course this season.

First-year Stuart Terrill led the way with a time of 24:31.3., a second-place finish and an All Atlantic 10 honor,  although the team placed two in the top three and four overall finishing in the top 10.  

“For a freshman that’s an impressive effort but really from top to bottom, our upperclassmen and the rest of the guys looked awesome” Taylor stated. “Top to bottom this was such a tremendous team effort because everybody performed at their best.” 

The other three UR runners to earn All-Atlantic 10 honors were junior Peter Borger with a time of 24:36.9, senior Noah Yuro at 24:41.9, and junior Noah Campell finishing top 10 with a run of  24:50.8. 

And even during a season altered by COVID-19 restrictions, the UR cross country team did not record a single positive COVID-19 case. 

“I live with three of the members of the cross country team so I wasn’t really exposed to anyone from outside of the team,” Yuro said. “We trained together, lived together, ate together."

Leading up to the Atlantic 10 Championship, the team tried to repeat the training structure it had been following all season. 

“Coach really wanted us to keep our body on cycle," Yuro said. "And that meant eating, sleeping and training the same way we were since the fall. We wanted to stay race sharp and not feel too tired going into the race. We wanted to roll in and get the job done."

Contact sports writer Marco Barcenas-Consuelo at marco.barcenasconsuelo@richmond.edu.