BEAUFORT, S.C. ? The 10th-ranked Embry-Riddle men's cross country team continued to prove worthy of their top-ten national ranking as they recorded a perfect score to claim the team title at the Sand Shark Invitational hosted by the University of South Carolina-Beaufort on Saturday. The Eagle men placed seven harriers in the top ten and nine ERAU runners ran sub-27 8K times en route to scoring 15 points for their fourth team title of the year.

Stuart Patterson was the first Eagle to cross the finish line. It was a race to the finish between Patterson and first place finisher Fred Smith of Claflin. In the end, Smith had a little bit more pace crossing in 26:06, just three seconds ahead of Patterson who posted his second fastest time this season of 26:09.

Cody Hill (26:12), Evan Clay (26:18) were third and fourth, respectively, while Laurent Williams (26:28), Russell Snyder (26:29), Horacio Maysonet (26:39) and Nick Gehlsen (26:47) took the No. 6 through No. 9 spots. Jason Minor (26:55) finished 11th followed by Greg Leonard in 12th.

On Nov. 3rd, the Eagle men will defend their 2006 crown when they host the 2007 FSC/NAIA Region XIV championships on Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus.