BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Taking on a deep and talented field of cross country teams from across the United States, Navy was up for the challenge at Saturday's Paul Short Run as the Mids placed sixth of 45 teams. The senior pairing of
Jake Brophy (New Hope, Pa.) and
Kevin Murray (Wilmington, Del.) highlighted Navy's effort in the 8k race at the competition that was hosted at Lehigh University.
Racing as part of a field of 390 runners, Brophy and Murray crossed the finish line with times of 23:23.0 and 23:28.0 that ranked second and fourth, respectively. Staying within sight of the leader, Hofstra's Alex Masai, Brophy came in just 5.5 seconds shy of the race winner's time of 23:17.5. Minnesota's Alec Basten separated the two Navy teammates in third place with his 23:26.7 effort.
Julian Perez (Jr., Beaumont, Texas) gave Navy its third runner in the top-50 as he turned in a time of 24:10.8, that was good for 45th overall. Just over 10 seconds back was sophomore
Luke Murphy (Tulsa, Okla.), who completed the course in 24:21.2. Murphy was the 66th runner to finish on Saturday.
The Mids' fifth and final scorer in Bethlehem was
Ashwin Briggs (So., Pickerington, Ohio), who placed 163rd with a time of 24:56.8.
Navy's freshman duo of
Garrison Clark (Severna Park, Md.) and
Alex Rizzo (Bronxville, N.Y.) were the sixth and seventh Mids to finish as they posted times of 25:00.9 and 25:07.0, that were good for 180th and 202nd.
"It was a joy to watch Jake and Kevin cruising today, they are now both top-10 all-time on the Lehigh course," exclaimed head coach
Aaron Lanzel. "Julian and Luke got in the groove, as well, so that was great to see. There were several stumbles that we can continue to improve on, but I don't have to spin the results to convince our guys that they can put it all together and compete against these teams, they did it."
In the team standings, Utah State won the event with a cumulative score of 54 points. Penn placed second 98 points back at 152. Adams State and Stony Brook were closely grouped in third and fourth place respectively with 193 and 208 points. Minnesota rounded out the top-five at 231.
In a precursor to later this month's Army-Navy head-to-head matchup, the Mids finished one spot ahead of the Black Knights in the standings with 269 points in sixth place. Army was seventh at 299.
Following a bye week, Navy will head to New York for the 2019 Army-Navy Star Meet. The Mids and Black Knights will face off in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. on Friday, Oct. 18.
