BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Saint Joseph's men's cross country team topped the leaderboard in the opening race of the season, taking first place at the Lehigh Invitational on Friday afternoon.
 
ABOUT THE EVENT:

• The 6k race was hosted by Lehigh University at the Goodman Cross Country Course.
• The Hawks finished in first place on the evening, eight different schools and 116 runners representing the field.
• Six Hawks set PRs on the evening.

 
HOW THE HAWKS FINISHED:

• Noah Deckert paved the way for success for the Crimson and Gray, his time of 18:13.4 good for fourth in the field and second in scoring. The time narrowly missed out on his personal record, just a second shy of breaking his previous best mark.
• Jay Shanahan also came a second shy of a personal best, finishing with a time of 18:16.6 as the junior tallied a sixth-place finish on the evening
• Kevin Jumper smashed his old record with a time of 18:26.0, besting his previous best time of 19:18.6 to come in 10^th for the Hawks.
• Will Rau's 11^th place finish was the sophomore's first 6k race, setting a benchmark of 18:30.4.
• Anthony Gargani rounded out the scoring for SJU with a 12^th place finish and an 18:33.1 time, also setting a personal record.
• Finishing in 18^th, Vincent Twomey marked his debut in the 6k with an 18:37.9 time. Tomek Przybylak made his collegiate debut and followed just behind Twomey with a time of 18:43.2 to come in 21^st.
• Ryan Cichocki recorded a 25^th place finish on his debut, also finishing under 19 minutes with a time of 18:50.7.
• Almost taking a minute off his previous PR, Josh Forrest finished in 27^th on the evening with a time of 18:52.7. Sophomore Evan McGregor finished 1.3 seconds back of his teammate with a 18:54.0 time to finish 28^th, Michael Glavin pacing nearly identical with McGregor as the rookie finished in 18:54.9.
• Dawson Baptiste (19:14.2), Patrick Coyle (19:16.3) and Aidan Doherty (19.19.9) all significantly improved on their previous best times to set new PRs on the evening.
• Ian Romea (19:27.8), Quinn O'Dell (19:31.6), Owen Hibshman (20:29.6) and Aidan Norris (21:20.6) all made their 6k debut for the Crimson and Gray.

 
UP NEXT:

• St. Joe's returns to action in two weeks, set to compete in the Paddy Doyle Meet of Champions hosted by Iona University on September 15.