Posted: Sep 13, 2014

Smith, Gisore Lead Men’s Cross Country to Second Place at Bruce Kirsh Cross Country Cup

AIC claims title

Ravens Men's Cross Country RINDGE, N.H. (September 13, 2014) – Sophomore B.J. Smith (Concord, N.H.) and senior Antoine Gisore (Concord, N.H.) each finished in the top 10 on Saturday morning to lead the Franklin Pierce University men's cross country team in the Bruce Kirsh Cross Country Cup, its first of three on-campus meets this fall. Franklin Pierce finished as runner-up in the nine-team meet.

Smith took fourth with a 6k time of 21:06, while Gisore placed ninth with a time of 21:37. The Ravens also had two others finish in the top 15, as sophomore Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.) took 12th in 21:52 and junior Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) was 15th in 22:11. Sophomore Dylan Crowley (Woburn, Mass.) rounded out Franklin Pierce's five scoring positions on Saturday, as he ran a 22:41 to finish 26th.

The Ravens had 21 student-athletes compete in the 97-runner field. Outside of the team's five scoring members, junior Makopa Rugabirwa (Concord, N.H.) also finished in the top-30, at 29th, in a time of 22:44.

American International (22 points) ran away from the field, both literally and figuratively, as it had each of the top-three finishers and placed all five of its scoring positions inside the top 10. After the Yellow Jackets, it was 43 points back to second-place Franklin Pierce (65), which was followed by Merrimack (68), Adelphi (83) and Southern Connecticut State (155) to round out the top five.

Individually, the top-three runners were AIC's Mike Biwott (19:36), Conor Cashin (20:56) and Johnathan Morgan (21:03). After Smith in fourth, Nicholas Filippazzo of Adelphi finished fifth (21:07).

The Ravens are back in action on Saturday, Sept. 20 at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational in North Dartmouth, Mass.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce cross country apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).