Beatty Leads Black Knights to Second Place Finish

Friday, September 25

Attleboro, MA

3:15 PM

Army West Point

Three Team Battle in Beantown

Beatty Leads Black Knights to Second Place Finish

September 25, 2020 | Men's Cross Country

ATTLEBORO, Mass. - The Army West Point men's cross country team finished second at the Three Team Battle in Beantown at Coogan Course at Highland Park on Friday.

Army finished with a team score of 38 points, with Syracuse posting a score of 18 to claim their second consecutive meet victory. Meet host Boston College placed third with a score of 80.

The Black Knights were led by junior Marshall Beatty who finished third with a time of 24:43. Beatty is one of two former Patriot League Rookie of the Year winners to place in the top 10 on Friday, as sophomore Garrett Gough finished ninth at 25:31.

Syracuse redshirt senior JP Trojan finished first to claim his second win in two races since joining the Orange from William & Mary. Trojan (24:41) and teammate Joe Dragon (24:42) narrowly edged Beatty to give the Orange a one-two finish in the race.

"They had a big pack of five guys and I was hoping if I strung them out at the end that some of the guys would fall off and our guys would pick up some spots," Beatty said. "The guys up front hung on pretty well and it ended up being me fighting with their third and fourth guy. I was a little bit off from the top two, but I am happy how things turned out."

Army now turns its attention to service academy rival Navy and the Army-Navy Star Meet which will take place on Oct. 17 in Annapolis. Unlike his first two Star Meets as a Black Knight, Beatty enters this one as an upperclassmen in a leadership position on the team, something he is excited to take on.

"It's been interesting to move into that role for sure," Beatty said. "We had some great mentors here during my first two years and they taught me a lot. Our younger guys have been wiling to step up and learn and that is a big key for us moving forward. Now we move on to Navy and I know we are more than capable of getting the win. We are very confident"

COACH'S CORNER: Head Coach Mike Smith
"Some of our usual suspects really got it done today in Marshall and Garrett. Marshall really stands out because he stepped up and decided that he was going to break up the top five of one of the best teams in the country. He made a move at the end and then he fell back to fifth and then he fought right back and almost pulled it off. Those top two guys on the Syracuse team just had a little too much. But, it was so impressive to see him make that commitment to break them up and then go out and do it.

Our young guys really stepped up today. Garrett Gough is starting to really return to the form we saw a season ago when he earned Patriot League Rookie of the Meet honors at the League Championship. It was a nice surprise to see Mitchell Burr go out and compete the way he did against that competition as a plebe. He took a chance to push forward and showing the confidence to do that will pay off in the long run.

Robert Chappell and Daniel Mazzei have been consistent performers for us in their careers and they did a nice job for us today, especially towards the end of the meet.

Syracuse is a very good team and we didn't lose to them today, they just performed the way strong teams perform. We got better as a team and certainly some individuals got a lot better today."

TOP FINISHERS:
3. Marshall Beatty - 24:43
9. Garrett Gough - 25:31
13. Mitchell Burr - 25:46
15. Robert Chappell - 25:48
16. Daniel Mazzei - 25:54

FULL RESULTS: http://www.millenniumrunning.com/results-coast-coast-battle-beantown-men-2020/36075