Sept. 29, 2007

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. - Navy men's cross country runner John Kress (Sr./Colorado Springs, Colo.) led the team with 31st-place performance as the Midshipmen finished 14th out of 23 teams at the highly competitive Roy Griak Invitational on the Les Bolstad Golf Course on Saturday afternoon.

Among the 23 teams in the meet, five were ranked among the nation's top-30 programs, while two others were receiving votes.

Northern Arizona, the 19th-ranked team in the country, won the invitational with the low score of 84 points, just edging Arizona State's 88 points. No. 29 Iowa State came in third with 99 points, followed by No. 18 Minnesota's 107 points and No. 28 Virginia's 126 points to round out the top-five scores.

Navy accumulated 332 points on the day, just 17 more than 13th-place Kansas, who was receiving votes in the latest nation poll, and 68 fewer than 15th-place Nebraska.

Racing against a field of 211 runners, Kress led the Mids across the finish line with a time of 25:15.3, only 1:11.1 off Lopez Lomong's individual title time of 24:04.2 from Northern Arizona. The Navy team captain's performance on Saturday marked the first time that he boasted the team's fastest time on the year.

Classmate John Olsen (Sr./Staten Island, N.Y.) soon followed Kress with a 25:21.6 showing to come in 33rd place. Bill Prom (Jr./New Berlin, Wis.) placed 92nd with a time of 26:18.8, while Ricky Griffith (So./Piedmont, Calif.) finished 95th with a 26:19.7 clocking and Chris Horel (So./Belford, N.J.) rounded out the scoring five with a 26:21.6 performance to come in 99th place.

The Midshipmen will return to action on Friday, Oct. 12, when they travel up to West Point, N.Y., to take on Army in the annual Star Meet. Last year, the Mids topped the Black Knights, 22-33, to capture the N-Star in Annapolis.