From Case Western Reserve University Athletics

Split between a pair of meets on Saturday afternoon, the Case Western Reserve University men's cross country team placed second at both the Yellowjacket Invitational in Rochester, New York, and the Behrend Invitational in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Junior Sam Merriman paced the Spartans' squad to the second-place finish out of 29 teams in the 8K race at the Yellowjacket Invitational, finishing sixth overall with a time of 26:00.2. Junior Aidan DeSanto and senior Galen Caldwell followed for CWRU, placing 15^th and 16^th with times of 26:42.6 and 26.43.6, respectively. Rounding out the Spartans' top five were freshman Luke Robbins in 30^th place with a time of 27:05.0 and sophomore James De La Cruz in 31^st place with a time of 27:09.2. Senior Bryan Kelly added a time of 27:59.5, finishing sixth among Spartan runners and 69^th overall, while junior James Gibson checked in at 73^rd overall with a mark of 28:01.7

Case Western Reserve totaled 98 points during the meet, finishing second to only Mount Union, which totaled 62 points.  St. Lawrence rounded out the top-three teams with 117 points.

Meanwhile, at the Behrend Invitational, the Spartans placed second out of 11 teams in the men's 8K race, led by a fifth-place finish from senior Patrick Leo with a time of 29:02.3.  Senior Andrew Hamm followed with an eighth-place finish in a time of 29:02.3, while junior Ryan Honens finished 12^th with a mark of 29:10.9. Rounding out the Spartans' top-five at the meet were sophomore Robert Iriye in 15^th with a time of 29:27.1 and freshman Michael Klein in 18^thplace with a time of 29:38.1.

Host Penn State – Behrend won the meet with a team score of 48, followed by CWRU with 53, and Point Park with 59.