ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men's cross country team gave its home fans at the USNA Cross Country course some spectacular results to cheer for on Saturday at the 2018 Navy Invitational as the Mids flexed their muscle over the competition with
Jake Brophy (Jr., New Hope, Pa.) winning the individual title and the team cruising to a 25-point victory over the field in the standings.
Brophy was the class of the field on Saturday when he completed the 8,000-meter course in a time of 25:33.13, 16.14 seconds ahead of his teammate
Michael Karls (Sr., Festus, Mo.), who clocked in at 25:49.27.
Kevin Murray (Jr., Wilmington, Del.) made it a clean sweep for Navy in the top three spots with a 25:49.93 time.
After UMBC's Nathan Nadal came in fourth place, sophomores
Ben Cracraft (Northville, Mich.) and
Julian Perez (Beaumont, Texas) crossed the finish line in fifth and sixth place within 0.30 seconds of each other when Cracraft posted a 26:09.86 result and Perez a 26:10.13.
The duo of
Dawson Podlena (So., Topeka, Kan.) and
Connor Nicholson (Jr., Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.) gave Navy its sixth and seventh runners in the top-10. Podlena came in ninth place with a time of 27:00.98. Nicholson was right behind less than two seconds later at 27:02.77.
Navy's
Hunter Petrik (Sparrows Point, Md.) was the first freshman to complete Saturday's run amongst the field of 36 total runners. Racing for the first time in a collegiate competition at his home course, Petrik registered a time of 27:19.35, good for 13
th overall.
In the team standings, Navy recorded 17 points to finish first ahead of UMBC (42), Loyola (85) and Bowie State (120).
"We are blessed with a very difficult course; some runners will curse the hills, but our runners executed their mission in learning how to appreciate them today," remarked head coach
Aaron Lanzel. "Jake, Kevin and Mike are a bastion of consistency and our young runners are learning to take their cues from a good trio in the front."
The Mids will step away from racing next weekend before picking up its schedule on Saturday, Sept. 29 at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn.
