BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Led by junior
Murphy Smith's second-place individual finish, the Navy men's cross country team posted a sixth-place team finish at the prestigious Paul Short Run on Saturday morning in the Men's College Gold 8K race at the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course in Bethlehem, Pa.
The Midshipmen finished sixth among the 43-team field with 203 total points, but bested the other five Patriot League opponents – American, Army, Boston University, Bucknell, and meet host Lehigh. Yale registered a team-low 101 points to finish first, while Wingate took second with 123 points. Stony Brook (159), Liberty (190), and Penn State (203) rounded out the top five.
"This was a good finish for the juniors and sophomore, making up our top six today coming straight back to a big competition seven days from our last," head coach
Aaron Lanzel said after the meet. "It was another high-level test. Murphy was excellent again this week, even better as the season progresses. Alexander also improves and gains confidence with each race. We can't celebrate as a team today with some opportunities left on the table, but we've responded well keeping our feet to the fire and if our guys just all run within their capabilities on the same day it's a formidable team."
Smith posted a time of 23:59.3, which was his top 8K time of the season, to finished second in the field of 392 runners who finished the race. The junior was in 47th through the first mile, but moved into the top five – fourth – through 5K of the race. At the 6.3K marker, Smith moved up one spot into third, before his final push to take second place. He finished just under six seconds back of individual medalist Evan Dorenkamp (23:53.7) of Penn State.
Smith was joined in the top 15 by fellow junior
Alexander Kirkland, who notched a time of 24:18.7 to finish in 14th overall.
Justin Mumford was third among the Navy runners with a time of 24:37.8 to finish 38th with
Luke Nester crossing the finish line with a time of 24:46.5 to take 58th.
Ben Countiss followed with a time of 25:01.9 to finish in the top 100 (93rd place / 91st-place points), while
Jackson Nguyen (25:06.2) and
Max Girardet (25:28.4) rounding out the Mids' top seven.
Sam Moultrie (25:36.6),
Sam Keeny (25:42.1) and
Owen Ahten (26:05.0) also competed in the Men's College Gold 8K.
Additionally,
Matt Newell (25:20.8),
Carson Sloat (25:26.3),
Joe Reimann (25:34.5),
Nico Valdivieso (25:39.4),
Griffin House (26:06.2),
Garrett Baublitz (26:10.6),
Tom Fodor (26:14.5),
Logan Flament (26:37.9),
Jacob Crouch (26:59.8),
Aidan Eberhardt (27:05.1),
Caden Ryskoski (27:08.9), and
Nick Hamby (27:17.1) all finished in the top half of the 514 competitors in the Open Men's 8K.
The Midshipmen will now have a week off in preparation for their next competition when the Mids head to West Point, N.Y. for the annual Army-Navy Star Meet on Saturday, Oct. 14.
