ONEONTA, N.Y. – The Cortland men's cross country team placed 11th out of 19 schools at the Oneonta Airfield Invitational. The race was held on the same course that the NCAA Div. III Atlantic Regional will be conducted on in November.

The Red Dragons finished with 320 points. St. Lawrence won the team title with 42 points, followed by Geneseo (60), Rochester (83), Fredonia (143) and The College of New Jersey (158) in the top five.

Junior Brendan Ward (St. James/Smithtown) was Cortland's top finisher with a 54th-place time of 26:26.2 over 8,000 meters. Four of the Red Dragons' next five runners were freshmen - Casey Austin (Pine Plains/Stissing Mountain) in 87th place (26:52.7), Kyle Martin (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley) in 93rd place (26:55.9), Tim Lee (West Babylon) in 113th place (27:08.4) and Ryan Perry (Amherst/Williamsville North) in 120th place (27:15.3).

Sophomore Tom Hopkins (Syracuse/West Genesee) was Cortland's fourth-best finisher with a 102nd place showing (27:01.2). Rounding out the Red Dragons' top seven in the 288-runner field was senior Nick Jeror (Rome/Rome Free Academy) with a 124th-place finish (27:16.6).

The Red Dragons used a conservative plan on the Fortin Park course. Their strategy required running controlled through the first four miles before closing hard over the last mile. This approach allowed the team to move from an estimated 16th position early in the race to its eventual 11th-place finish.

(Josh Henry contributed to this story)

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