EMMITSBURG, Md. (September 1, 2017) – Senior Martin Gradijan (Lebanon, N.H.) led the way for the Franklin Pierce University men's cross country team at the Mount St. Mary's 5K Duals on Friday afternoon. As a team at the season-opening meet, the Ravens went winless in the dual-meet format, falling to George Washington, American, host Mount St. Mary's, and Maryland-Baltimore County.

Friday's meet was not scored in the traditional method of scoring cross country meets. Instead, each team was scored on a head-to-head basis against each of the other schools in attendance. With lower scores being better, Franklin Pierce suffered defeats of 15-50 to George Washington, 15-50 to American, 19-36 to Mount St. Mary's and 15-50 to UMBC. American defeated all comers at the meet, posting a 4-0 record, while George Washington went 3-1, UMBC finished 2-2 and Mount St. Mary's went 1-3, in front of the Ravens at 0-4.

Individually, Gradijan finished the 5K course in 16:20.51, which put him in 29th place out of 85 runners. In all, the Ravens put four runners in the top half of the field. Sophomore Walker John (Boscawen, N.H.) checked in at 37th (16:28.07), freshman Anthony Pizzo (Peabody, Mass.) placed 38th (16:28.13) and sophomore Tyler Hayes (Kings Park, N.Y.) rounded out the top 40 in 40th (16:33.96).

Sophomore Jason Reed (Foxborough, Mass.) completed the Ravens scoring five in 44th place (16:44.41), and was the final Franklin Pierce runner to check in under 17 minutes. Four more Ravens clocked in inside the top 60 on the day: sophomore Jeff Reddy (Chester, N.H.) in 54th (17:13.03), senior Joshua Ercolini (Woburn, Mass.) in 58th (17:24.03), senior Adam Bryson (Lynn, Mass.) in 59th (17:28.77) and freshman Antonio Rua (Burrillville, R.I.) in 60th (17:28.95).

The Ravens return to action on Saturday, Sept. 9, when they travel to Northampton, Mass., for the Smith College Cross Country Invitational.

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).