BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Patriot League announced its weekly cross country awards and Navy freshman Patrick Gandini was recognized as the conference's Rookie of the Week for his performance over the weekend at the Cantello Invitational.
 
Gandini finished seventh overall and was part of a pack of five Midshipmen that all finished in the top eight as Navy cruised to a win at the Cantello Invitational on Saturday morning at the USNA Cross Country course in Annapolis, Md. He helped the Mids post a team score of 28 to win the eight-team meet, finishing 25 points ahead of George Washington who closed the day with a team score of 53 to take second.
 
The rookie was Navy's top freshman, finishing fourth on the team behind a trio of upperclassmen – junior Justin Mumford (second overall), senior Nico Valdivieso (fifth), and senior Carson Sloat (sixth). Gandini clocked a time of 25:00.5 in his first collegiate meet, averaging a time of 3:06.5 per 1K.
 
Up next, Navy will head to University Park, Pa. for the annual Spiked Shoe Invitational hosted by Penn State. Competition is slated to begin at the Spiked Shoe with the women's collegiate 6K race at 10:00 a.m. with the men's college 5.2-mile run to follow at 10:45 a.m. Live results will be available via PTtiming.