ST. PAUL, Minn. – Leaving the confines of Mid-Atlantic regional racing, the Navy men's cross country team went up a field of 15 talented programs from across the nation at the 2018 Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday. Competing on the 8,000-meter Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul, the home course of the University of Minnesota, the Mids received a trio of top-20 individual results from upperclassmen
Jake Brophy (Jr., New Hope, Pa.),
Kevin Murray (Jr., Wilmington, Del.) and
Michael Karls (Sr., Festus, Mo.) on their way to a fifth-place finish in the team standings.
Brophy led the way with a time of 24:46.9, that ranked seventh overall. Brophy was edged late for a top-five spot as Drake's Maximilian Fridrich clocked in fifth at 24:44.2. Harvard's Kieran Tuntivate was the individual champion amongst a field of 152 runners with a 24:33.4 time.
Murray and Karls came in within nine seconds of each other with respective times of 25:00.6 and 25:09.3. Murray's time was good for 13
th place, while Karl ranked 20
th.
Navy's fourth finisher on Saturday was freshman
David Nelsen (Chandler, Ariz.), who posted the 49
th-best time at 25:47.1.
Ben Cracraft (So., Northville, Mich.) was the Mids' final scorer as he came in 10 spots back of Nelsen in 59
th with a time of 26:00.4. Fellow sophomore
Julian Perez (Beaumont, Texas) was 8.9 seconds shy of Cracraft with a 63
rd-place finish at 26:09.3.
In the team standings, Duke held off Minnesota by three points, 74-77 for the meet title. Harvard (89), South Dakota State (132) and Navy (138) rounded out the top-five in the team leaderboard.
"Everyone knew that there was an opening to look good at this premier meet in the middle of the season. We didn't do that today," remarked head coach
Aaron Lanzel. "Although it was fun to see Jake, Kevin and Mike challenging at the front of the race, their younger counterparts are figuring out how to close the gap. Their legs are in the right spot with a little fatigue from necessary."
Navy will be off from competition next weekend as the program will turn its focus to the Army-Navy Star Meet on Saturday, Oct. 13. Part of a women's/men's doubleheader, the men will race second at the USNA Cross Country Course beginning at 11 a.m.
