The Bison men’s cross country team dominated at the Detroit Mercy Invitational, earning the victory by a margin of 27 points on Sept. 8. The Bison had five runners place in the top 13, and also had those same five place among the top 10 scored runners. The men’s team competed in a four mile race while the women’s team competed in a 5k race.

The star of the men’s meet was Connor McMenamin ’21, who posted the fastest time on the team. On the four-mile course, McMenamin finished in sixth place with a time of 20:46. Having also finished in the top 10 the previous week, McMenamin is hitting stride with consistent strong finishes.

“More than anything, consistency comes from being able to control the little details of training,” McMenamin said. “With running, being on top of your body’s health and training consistently helps tremendously to place well and contribute to the team, on both good days and bad days.”

Brendan O’Toole ’22 finished in eighth place with an overall time of 20:52. The Bison followed in 11th, 12th and 13th place to fill out their top five runners. Overall, the men had seven runners in the top 20 for an impressive win at the Invitational; the most recent Invitational win was achieved in 2016.

On the women’s side, the Orange and Blue missed some key members due to injuries, with four of the top seven runners sitting out. However, the Bison proved their resiliency, finishing only 11 points behind the first place team in the invitational.

Payton Capes ’21 posted the best time for the Bison, with a 5k time of 18:12. The Orange and Blue also finished with three runners in the top ten, an impressive display of depth given the circumstances.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will next compete at Boston College on Sept. 21 to compete in the Coast-to-Coast Battle.