LAKELAND, Fla. – A tightly packed group led the Southeastern's Men's Cross Country team to a fifth-place finish at the six-kilometer Uncle Nick's Swan City Bagel Run on Saturday morning at Holloway Park.
Battling NCAA DII, NAIA and JUCO competition, just 32.6 seconds separated the Fire's five scoring runners in the season opener, as Southeastern finished with 144 points and a team finish average of 20:35.
Jeremy Durbin was the first Fire runner through the chute, clocking a 20:22.1 to place 38th overall, moving to sixth all-time in the SEU record books. Billy Mueller was just four seconds after, taking 40th in 20:26.4, advancing to seventh in the records.
The Fire continued to come across the line in quick succession, with Kaleb Mellott finishing 43rd in 20:35.0 and Spencer Louis taking 46th in 20:40.2. Mellott's time moved him to 10th all-time.
Nathan Jucha capped the scoring group in his collegiate debut, crossing the line in 20:54.7 to place 53rd. Southeastern's five scorers all finished within 15 places of one another.
Tobias Dickerson was next for the Fire with a 58th-place time of 21:07.5, while Levi Gustafson followed in 60th at 21:21.9. Luke Van Scoy finished 63rd in 21:28.5 to give Southeastern eight runners across the line within a span of just over a minute.
Freshmen Byron Phillips and Aiden Stout finished back-to-back in 67th and 68th, recording times of 22:44.4 and 22:48.9, respectively.
Gabriel Arce-Gonzalez was next across the line in 23:16.7, while Christopher Rohrs finished with a time of 23:23.1.
Sophomore Tyler Martelly finished in 25:09.7, and Tyler Moody completed the Fire contingent in 27:41.2.
Florida Southern took the team title with 15 points.
The Fire will look to build on Saturday's tightly grouped opening on Sept. 18, as they head to Panama City, Fla. for the Baptist University of Florida Eagle Invitational at 8:45 a.m..
