AMHERST, N.Y. (November 4, 2017) – In a year in which it lost its top-four runners from a year ago, the youth movement of the Franklin Pierce University men's cross country team still managed to earn a top-five finish in the NCAA Championship East Regional, hosted by Daemen College. Three Ravens earned All-East Region honors with top-25 finishes to highlight the team's performance on Saturday at Audubon Golf Course. It marked the program's fifth straight top-five finish at the regional meet.

Freshman Hugo Arlabosse (Marseille, France), sophomore Jason Reed (Foxborough, Mass.) and sophomore Jeff Reddy (Chester, N.H.) each earned All-East Region honors with their respective runs on Saturday. It all added up to 147 points for the Ravens, who actually finished tied with Southern New Hampshire, but claimed fifth based on tiebreakers. Up front, Stonehill (39 points) posted a blowout victory in claiming the East Region title over second-place American International (105 points). Merrimack placed third (121 points), while Roberts Wesleyan (127 points) took fourth, directly in front of Franklin Pierce. The Ravens finished just 23 points off of third place, which is the final qualifying position for the national championship race.

"The men ran a superb race they can all be proud of; having three runners earn All-Region was impressive and totally unexpected," said head coach Zach Emerson after the race. "I'm so proud of this young squad for putting it all on the line… After losing our top four runners from last year, we now look forward to returning our top four runners for the next two years. The future looks very bright."

Arlabosse turned in a 10k time of 34:07.7 to lead the way for the Ravens with a 14^th-place finish in the 158-runner field. Reed was just two spots further back, in 16^th, with a mark of 34:15.8. It was another 15 seconds back to Reddy, who rounded out the team's All-East Region performances with a run of 34:30.1 to place 22^nd.

Freshman Anthony Pizzo (Peabody, Mass.) stopped the clock at 35:22.4 to finish in 41^st. The Ravens put all five scoring members inside the top 60, as senior Martin Gradijan (Lebanon, N.H.) checked in at 56^th, with a time of 36:03.1. Gradijan was the only member of the team's scoring five who was neither a freshman nor a sophomore.

AIC junior Leakey Kipkosgei ran a 32:38.8 to take home the individual East Region crown. He was followed by SNHU senior Tyler McLaren in second (32:47.1) and Stonehill junior Lucas Taxter in third (33:00.5).

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).