Men's Cross Country Makes it Two Wins in a Row at Bruce Kirsh Cup
Antoine Gisore places second
RINDGE, N.H. (September 14, 2013) – Four Ravens finished among the top-nine of the individual standings at the Inaugural Bruce Kirsh Cross Country Cup on Saturday to lead the Franklin Pierce University men's cross country team to its second-consecutive win.
The Ravens won the race with 39 points, and finished ahead of American International College, which placed second with 49 points. The victory for Franklin Pierce came against a Yellow Jackets squad which entered the competition ranked 13th in the nation. Merrimack rounded out the top three in the team standings as the Warriors posted 78 points.
Combined with last week's triumph at Roger Williams, Franklin Pierce has now won back-to-back races after the program had never previously won a meet in its earlier history.
Junior Antoine Gisore (Concord, N.H.) led the top-five Ravens with a second-place finish in a time of 17:14, marking the second week in a row he has produced a top-two finish in the individual standings. Last week Gisore breezed to victory at Roger Williams in his Ravens debut.
Sophomore Makopa Rugabirwa (Concord, N.H.) was right on Gisore's heels at the finish line, as he placed third with a mark of 17:22.
Sophomore Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) placed fifth with a strong showing of 17:37, while rookie B.J. Smith (Concord, N.H.) added to his impressive collegiate debut last week with a ninth place finish in a time of 17:59 this week.
Sophomore Isaac Fithian (Kingston, N.H.) was the fifth Raven to cross the finish line and count towards the team score, as he produced a 20th-place finish with a mark of 18:37.
Franklin Pierce returns to action next Saturday when the Ravens travel to compete in the UMass Dartmouth Invitational beginning at 10 a.m.
For more information on Franklin Pierce men's cross country, please visit the team's page at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce cross country apparel can do so on the athletic department's online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)