By Alex Wagner

Contributing Writer

The men’s cross country team placed eighth this past weekend at the Princeton Invitational on the Tiger’s eight-kilometer course.

Dave Brown ’12 was the top finisher for the Bison, earning 31st place overall with a time of 25:29. 

“I have been battling some training issues that hit me hard with around a mile and a half to go, which resulted in a sub-par performance,” Brown said. “The rest of the team, especially the freshmen, ran really well though.”

D.J. Krystek ’13 narrowly missed out in the top 50 with a time of 25:46, earning him 51st place. John Dugan ’15 was not far behind, with a time of 25:51, which got him into 56th place. Dustin Horning ’13 was next for the Orange and Blue in 60th and a finish of 25:55. Andrew Kirna ’15 rounded out the Bison’s top five finishers with a time of 26:20, earning him 78th place.

Eric Balaban ’14 ran the course in 26:40 to earn 89th place and Glen Williams ’15 squeezed into 100th place with a time of 26:56.

“I didn’t run a very smart race this week, and my time suffered,” Williams said. “It was good to see many of my teammates do well.”

He was followed by Tyler Erhard ’14, who placed 113th, and Brian Charland ’13, who placed 137th, with times of 27:21 and 29:28, respectively.

Cornell earned first place in the team standings with 50 points, and Ben Sathre of St. Thomas (Minnesota) took in the top individual spot with a speedy time of 24:29.

“Coming into the race, we were feeling pretty optimistic. There wasn’t any pressure to beat specific teams, and we were there just to run our race,” Brown said. “Overall, it was a good tune up for the league championships in two weeks.”

The Bison hope to build off of this weekend’s strong finish when they go to the Patriot League Championships at Lehigh on Oct. 29.

“It’s an exciting time to be a freshman on the team,” Williams said. “A lot of the young guys are looking forward to contributing in the championship season.”