SOUTH BEND, IN – The Wright State men's cross country team competed as part of a deep field at Friday's Joe Piane-Notre Dame Invitational, with the Raiders finishing 11th among 21 teams in the meet's 'Gold' 8K race.
The Raiders were fourth among Horizon League schools competing in the race behind IU Indy (fourth), Green Bay (ninth) and Purdue Fort Wayne (10th), finishing just two points back of Purdue Fort Wayne.
Wright State was paced by
Evan McPherson, who finished 29th overall with his 25:02.7 time, followed right behind by
Blake Rodgers' mark of 25:06.8 in 35th. In total, all nine Raider runners finished within two and a half minutes of each other in the jam-packed field, with
Alex McCarty (44th, 25:21.7),
Patrick Statzer (78th, 25:53.0) and
Andrew Bugner (85th, 25:59.1) all also coming in under 26 minutes.
Eric Dando clocked in at 26:08.1 in 94th, followed by
Kalib Tolle (103rd) at 26:11.3,
Ryan Bridenthal (141st) at 27:15.9 and at 28:19.9 was Emmit Slabach (160th).
A small contingent of Raider men, along with 16 Wright State women, will compete on Saturday at the Live in Lou Classic. Following Saturday's action, Wright State again will split for its next set of meets on October 17. The Raider men will compete at the Bradley Pink Classic and the Wright State women will run in Bowling Green's Falcon Invitational as the calendar inches closer to the November 1 Horizon League Championship meet.
