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Posted: Sep 20, 2014

Smith Wins UMass Dartmouth Invitational, Men’s Cross Country Blows Out Field for Team Title

Smith Wins UMass Dartmouth Invitational, Men’s Cross Country Blows Out Field for Team Title
Results

Ravens field three of top-six finishers

Smith NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. (September 20, 2014) – Sophomore B.J. Smith (Concord, N.H.) ran a five-mile time of 24:48.30 to take first place on Saturday and lead the way for the Franklin Pierce University men's cross country team, which placed five runners in the top 23 finishers at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational. The quintet of strong performances led the Ravens (50 points) to a blowout victory at the 34-team meet.

Smith posted a nine-second victory over Lee Cattanach (24:57.69) of Eastern Connecticut State, who finished second. Franklin Pierce's second and third finishers each finished in the top six overall, as junior Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) ran a 25:09.24 to place fourth and senior Antoine Gisore (Concord, N.H.) clocked a 25:11.82 to finish sixth. Rounding out the five scoring positions for the Ravens were sophomore Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.) in 16th at 25:47.20 and junior Makopa Rugabirwa (Concord, N.H.) in 23rd at 25:54.90.

Franklin Pierce had three others run on Saturday, including two more who notched top-50 finishes in the 255-runner field, as sophomore Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda) finished 40th (26:17.23) and freshman Luke Thresher (Coventry, Conn.) placed 43rd (26:18.40). Senior J.T. Trujillo (Derry, N.H.) finished 89th (27:15.94) to round out the Ravens' participation in the event.

The Ravens claimed the team title by 50 points over second-place Worcester Polytechnic (100 points). Brandeis (105) in third, New Paltz State (134) in fourth and fellow Northeast-10 member Bentley (148) in fifth filled out the top-five.

Individually, behind Smith and Cattanach, Ryan Moran (25:06.02) of WPI took third, directly in front of Ham. Between Ham and Gisore, Andrew Sukeforth (25:10.29) of Bridgewater State finished fifth.

The Ravens are back in action on Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Paul Short Run, hosted by Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa.

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).