UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Navy senior Murphy Smith finished a half a second back of individual medalist Sam Lawler of Syracuse to finish second overall with a time of 24:56.0 and lead the Navy men's cross country team to a seventh-place team finish in the men's 5.2-mile race at the annual Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational hosted by Penn State on Friday morning at the Penn State Golf Courses.
 
"Murphy is ready for the season," head coach Aaron Lanzel stated. "He ran a smooth controlled race against some All-Region runners from last year. Jackson is also much improved to be ready for more. With a few more meets to develop individuals to a rendezvous point, our high hopes for this season have a good foundation. When we get there, and put the full force of the team together, I think we can get some satisfaction from the team results. Some of our sophomores and freshman like Logan, Owen, and James still have big gains to be made this season, but I'm happy with where they are and how far they have come."
 
Smith, who was competing in his first competition of the 2024 season, began the race in 36th-place through the first 1,200 meters. The senior moved up 34 spots to second place at the second checkpoint. Through the first 5K, Smith remained in second place, but was able to move into first through 7,200 meters. With a tight grouping among the race leaders, Smith was edged out by Lawler by a half a second for the individual medalist spot.
 
Junior Jackson Nguyen was second among the Midshipmen distance runners, taking 15th overall with a time of 25:26.1. He opened the race in 50th making his way into the top 10 (ninth) at the midway point of the race before ultimately finishing 15th overall.
 
Sophomore Logan Flament and senior team captain Luke Nester were third and fourth among the Mids in the race. Coming off of a solid performance at the Cantello Invitational, Flament posted a time of 26:00.5 in the 5.2-mile race, while three spots back Nester crossed the line with a time of 26:02.4 in his first action of the season.
 
Freshman James Partlow notched a time of 26:17.5 to round out Navy's top five, while sophomore Owen Ahten (26:32.5) and senior Sean Miller (26:34.4) closed out the Mids' counters in the race. Senior Ben Countiss (26:41.6) also competed for the Midshipmen.
 
No. 22 Syracuse boasted the individual medalist en route to a first-place team finish with a low score of 31 points. Georgetown, who was receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA national poll, was second with 70 points with Missouri (147 points), Columbia (163), and meet host Penn State (165) rounding out the top five. Pitt was two points back with 167 to finish ahead of Navy who claimed seventh with 190 points. Penn (196), Temple (260), and St. Joseph's (260) rounded out the top 10 with Buffalo (297), UMBC (326), UConn (332), Monmouth (376), Bucknell (385), Lehigh (399), Duquesne (470), and Loyola (558) closing out the field.
 
Up next, the Midshipmen head to the Land of 10,000 Lakes as Navy takes part in the 38th Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Minneapolis, Minn. on Friday, Sept. 20.