Sept. 16, 2006

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's cross country team placed five runners in the top 11 en route to a second-place finish at the Navy Invitational on Saturday morning. Navy finished with 37 points, 17 behind American's 20 points. Richmond, UMBC and Loyola (Md.) rounded out the top five.

American entered the weekend ranked in the top 30 nationally.

"There are 302 Division I teams that run cross country and American is in the top 30," said Navy head coach Al Cantello. "They put a good ole-fashioned spankin' on us today."

Navy's top finisher was John Kress, who placed third with a 25:07.27, 16 seconds behind American's winner, Brendan Fennell. John Olsen and Jonathon Grant was sixth and seventh in 25:14.50 and 25:15.60, respectively.

Navy rounded out the scoring with a 10th and 11th place finish by Mike Niemi (25:44.73) and Chris Horel (25:50.13).

Four more Mids placed in the top 20, highlighted by Lucas Burke's 14th-place showing.

Navy will compete next Saturday in the Roy Griak Invitational in Falcon Heights, Minn.

# GO NAVY #