ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men's cross country team placed seven runners in the top 10 to win the team title at the Cantello Invitational in the Men's Varsity 4.9 Mile race on Saturday morning at the USNA Cross Country Course.
 
"It was important to be very controlled today because, the way the schedule falls, we have a big effort coming up in seven days at the NCAA Championship course," head coach Aaron Lanzel said after the race. "It is very hard to hold the reins on so much horsepower. The team did that very well today.
 
"It was a good start to a new season with new challenges. I don't think there is a man on the team that hasn't reset all of their own expectations to something much higher from a year ago."
 
The Midshipmen finished with a team-best 22 points and a tight 11.6-second spread among its scoring runners. Navy bested George Washington (47 points), UMBC (66), and Loyola (110).
 
While George Washington junior Charles Mbuthia took individual medalist honors in 24:05.0, Navy secured the overall team win by utilizing tight pack running to place seven athletes in the top 10. Senior Zack Poekert led the Midshipmen with a second-place finish in 24:39.4. He was followed immediately by a pair of Navy juniors, with Dane Eike taking third at 24:39.5 and James Partlow finishing fourth at 24:39.6.
 
Sophomore Luke Bowlsby crossed the line in sixth place with a time of 24:49.3, and junior Trevor Hayes completed Navy's scoring five by taking seventh place in 24:50.9.
 
Navy's depth was further showcased by its displacers, as juniors Jonathan Skemp (24:51.3) and Patrick Gandini (24:57.8) finished eighth and 10th overall, respectively. In total, Navy fielded 18 runners in the 4.9-mile race, finishing with an average team time of 24:43.8.
 
Junior Billy Driscoll and freshman Dom Pappagallo finished in order in 13th and 14th with times of 25:11.2 and 25:16.5. Sophomores Shane Conroy (25:19.6) and Will Ditre (25:31.4) along with freshman Jace Deledonne (25:37.8) each finished in the top 20 in 16th, 19th, and 20th, respectively.
 
"Dane has been at a high level a good bit of his career already and he is now just entering the second half of it as a junior," Lanzel added. "Zack finally had his breakthrough to be at the front with Dane and James. Right with them is Luke, Trevor, and Jon who came back in August well prepared for this fall. The next grouping of guys behind still contains some top-5 runners on any given day. In addition, we have a lot of improvement that will happen with freshmen like Dominic and Jace, as well as sophomores Shane and Will."
 
Sophomore Ben Marks (25:39.1), senior Jacob Crouch (25:41.7), junior Justin Hom (26:00.8), junior Luke Doetschman (26:06.9), senior Owen Ahten (26:14.8), and junior Ben Tucker (26:39.1) also competed during the 4.9-mile race.
 
In the Men's Open 5K, sophomore Jack Hefty claimed the individual victory, crossing the finish line first with a time of 16:04.8. The Midshipmen showcased a tight pack of freshmen, posting a mere 20.7-second spread among their top five runners. Liam Beighley placed fourth overall in 16:20.2, followed consecutively by teammates Sam Wood (16:22.2) in fifth, Gavin Zais (16:23.9) in sixth, and Carson Fischer (16:25.5) in seventh. Freshmen Davis Garrett and Myles Wagner also cracked the top 10 overall, finishing eighth (16:31.4) and 10th (16:36.6), respectively.
 
In total, 17 Navy athletes completed the open race with freshman Owen Reece (16:43.9), freshman Wes Anderson (16:44.3), senior Nick Hamby (16:58.1), freshman Logan Carlson (16:58.8), senior Tate Frost (17:00.2), senior Aidan Eberhardt (17:04.2), freshman CJ Loomis (17:17.4), freshman Thomas Durand (17:19.5), freshman Braden Little (17:20.1), and freshman Benjamin Schmidt (17:38.5) also crossing the finish line.
 
Up next, Navy will head to Terre Haute, Indiana for the John McNichols Invitational hosted by the Indiana State on Saturday, Sept. 19.