Men’s Cross Country placed 22nd out of 44 teams, scoring 664 points at the 50th edition of the Paul Short Run at Lehigh over the weekend.
The Orange and Blue took on the competitive Men’s College Gold Race in Bethlehem, Pa. featuring many of the top teams from the East Coast. Patriot League rivals Navy, Army, Boston University and Lehigh were all in attendance in the Gold Race while Colgate, Loyola (Md.), Holy Cross and Lafayette competed in the Brown Race. Many Power Four conference schools toed the line as well, including Pittsburgh, Penn State, Boston College and Rutgers.
Max Crockett ’25 was the top finisher for the Bison, continuing his strong season on the grass, running 24:41.60 to place 88th overall out of the field of nearly 400 runners.
“We’ve had some decent Paul Shorts in the past, but yesterday we definitely took a step up. We had some shaky meets so far this year, but beating Boston and breaking up Army a little bit is a great step in the right direction. Racing a 450-person field has its positives and negatives for sure. It’s tough to get out fast but at the same time you’re always going to have a group to run with and people to catch,” Crockett said.
Harry Marson ’25 was right behind, finishing just a second behind Crockett for 95th overall. Ethan Pratt-Perez ’28, Ben Santos ’25 and Grant Kern ’26 rounded out the scoring for the Orange and Blue, placing 131st, 142nd and 251st, respectively.
The Bison as a team placed third among all Patriot League squads in the race, notably placing ahead of Boston University, who perennially place in the top three come Patriot League Championships. November will mark a decade since the last time the Orange and Blue placed ahead of Boston. 2014 was also the last time Boston placed outside the podium when they finished fourth overall.
Navy (fourth overall) and Army (seventh overall) were the two Patriot League teams that finished ahead of the Bison on Saturday. Ultimately, it was reigning Division II National Champions Wingate who picked up the team title as they went 2-3-6-8-11, scoring 30 points. They beat out USTFCCCA #12 Harvard and a strong Utah State team that is historically near the top of the Mountain Region.
Men’s Cross Country continues their season on Thursday, Oct. 17 at IC4A Championships held at the historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y.
