BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Navy men's cross country team posted a team score of 198 in the Men's College Gold 8K race at the 2025 Paul Short Run at the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course on the campus of Lehigh University to finish seventh among the 40 teams that competed. Seniors
Justin Mumford and
Matt Newell notched top 30 performances to lead the Midshipmen.
#28 Georgetown won the race with a team-low score of 102 with Utah State following with a score of 123. Texas A&M notched a team score of 137 to finish third head of #29 Harvard (147) and Wingate (181). Penn State tallied 192 points to finish sixth just ahead of Navy who had 198 points. Villanova, who was receiving votes in the latest national poll, #11 Syracuse, and Pitt closed out the top 10 with 226, 266, and 299 points, correspondingly.
In addition to Navy, four additional Patriot League school participated on the course that will be used for the conference championship at the end of the month. The Midshipmen were the top finishers amongst the Patriot League schools, followed by Army (13th – 378 points), Boston U. (18th – 565), Colgate (28th – 799), and Lehigh (29th – 844).
For the second consecutive race, Mumford led the way for the Mids. The senior clocked a time of 23:44.4 to finish 21st among the 344 competitors that finished the 8K race. He was joined in the top 30 by Newell, who clocked a performance of 23:49.8 to finish 26th overall.
Patrick Gandini was third amongst the Midshipmen runners crossing the line with a time of 23:57.6 to finish 40th, just ahead of teammate
Dane Eike who posted a time of 23:59.9 to claim 44th.
Max Girardet rounded out the top five for Navy with a time of 24:13.9, while
James Partlow (24:17.3) and
Jackson Nguyen (24:21.8) closed out the Mids' top seven counters.
Logan Flament (24:37.9),
Trevor Hayes (24:42.5), and
Owen Ahten (24:47.8) also competed in the Men's College Gold 8K race.
In the men's open 8K, the Midshipmen had 12 runners among the 575 competitors that finished the race.
Luke Bowlsby and
Billy Driscoll were the Mids' top finishers, claiming 22nd and 27th, respectively. Bowlsby clocked a team-bets 24:37.6 in the open, while Driscoll notched a time of 24:43.4.
Zack Poekert followed with a time of 24:52.4 with
Jonathan Skemp (25:13.6) and
Ben Marks (25:22.3) rounded out the top five for Navy in the race.
Justin Hom was one second back of Marks with a time of 25:23.3.
Jacob Crouch (25:37.7),
Shane Conroy (25:51.1),
Jack Hefty (26:16.2),
Noah Guerrero (26:18.3),
Owen Eldridge (26:49.4), and
Will Ditre (27:03.8) also competed in the open event.
Up next, the Midshipmen return to action on Saturday, Oct. 18 as the Mids head to West Point, N.Y. for the annual Star Meet, which is part of the overall Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA. The women are set for 10:15 a.m., while the men are slated for 11:15 a.m. Live results will be available.
