Men's Cross Country Takes First Place at South Florida Invitational

9/5/2014 6:43:00 PM | By: Robert Lopez | @robertlopez91

Sophomore Paul McKenna led the way for ERAU at South Florida Invitational

TAMPA, FLA. – The 15^th ranked Embry-Riddle men's cross country team opened up its 2014 campaign on Friday evening with a dominant first place finish at the South Florida Invitational.

ERAU, the only NAIA squad in a 12-team field that featured five NCAA I and six NCAA II teams , cruised into first place, earning 32 points. The next closest team, Florida Southern, put up 87 points, while Florida Gulf Coast (99), Tampa (106), and Nova Southeastern (121) rounded out the top five.

"On the men's side it was really an impressive performance," said Eagle Head Coach Mike Rosolino. "We went and ran out as a pack and really encouraged each other throughout the meet. To do as well as we did and dominate a meet like this with an all Division I, Division II field was pretty impressive and pretty exciting for them. Good start to the season."

Despite a soft and muddy course, the Blue and Gold produced six of the top 12 finishers in the race, led by sophomore Paul McKenna who finished first among all runners with a time of 25:38.57.

Alec Hernandez (26:15.00), Matt Graves (26:22.71), Jamin Mays (26:31.38), and freshman Keneth Pineiro-Collazo (26:32.07) rounded out the Eagle scorers finishing fifth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh respectively.

The Eagles will be in action again on Sept. 20 when they head to Gainesville, Fla. for the Mountain Dew Invitational hosted by the University of Florida.

South Florida Invitational
Eagle Finish	Points	Total Teams
1st	32	12

Individual Eagles	Finish	Time
Paul McKenna*	1st	25:38.57
Alec Hernandez*	5th	26:15.00
Matt Graves*	9th	26:22.71
Jamin Mays*	10th	26:31.38
Keneth J Pineiro-Collazo*	11th	26:32.07

Andrew Carpenter	12th	26:41.94
Jacob Dordick	18th	26:53.99
Ryan Larson	29th	27:17.53
Palmer Lintz	39th	27:35.60
Adam Lawrence	56th	28:06.17
Dalton L'Heureux	85th	29:41.65
James Fell	91st	30:00.67
Andrew Carosi	92nd	30:08.13
DeVontae Persha	109th	31:56.43
Paul Meesala	111th	32:05.67
* Scorers

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