OSWEGO, N.Y. – The nationally third-ranked and defending NCAA Division III champion Cortland men's cross country team swept the top four spots and captured the team title at the Oswego Laker Invitational Saturday to open its season. The Red Dragons scored 21 points to finish ahead of Ithaca (35 points) in second and Oswego (83 points) in third.

Senior Kyle O'Brien (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) finished first out of 78 runners on the 6,000-meter course in 19:33, nine seconds ahead of senior Eric Stermer's (Chenango Forks) second-place time of 19:42. Freshman Patrick Fannon (West Islip) crossed the finish line third in 20:08, followed closely by freshman Tom Hopkins (Syracuse/West Genesee), who placed fourth in 20:14. Junior Andrew Brusso (Elmira/Southside) rounded out Cortland's scorers with an 11th-place finish in 20:34.

The Red Dragons had two other runners finish in the top 25 -- junior Nick Jeror (Rome/Rome Free Academy) in 17th place (20:59) and freshman Joe Blazey (Newark Valley) in 22nd place (21:17).

Complete Results