TYRONE, Pa. -- Point Park University men's cross country placed fourth of 10 teams at the St. Francis (Pa.) Father Bede Invitational on Friday. It was the season opener for the Pioneers, the only NAIA school at the NCAA Division I hosted meet.
The Pioneers placed four runners in the Top 25 of the race, which had 106 runners in all. Point Park placed behind only Duquesne, IUP and St. Vincent as the top three schools. The Pioneers beat St. Francis (Pa.), Pitt-Johnstown and Seton Hill from NCAA DI and DII as well as Geneva, Juniata and Lycoming from NCAA DIII.
Duquesne easily won with 30 points and four runners in the Top 10. Next was IUP with 41 points, St. Vincent with 98 and Point Park close behind with 103. Duquese, IUP and Point Park were the only schools with four Top 25 finishers.
Jannik Windelband, a junior from Germany, led the Pioneers in ninth place overall in the 6,000-meter race. He finished the race in 19:58, one of only 10 runners to break 20 minutes. Freshman Luke McKenna was next running 20:16 in his college debut. Ramiro Ulunque (20:24) and Joshua Gosselin (20:31) joined in the Top 25 in 22nd and 25th place, respectively.
Point Park had five runners under 21 minutes and seven under 22 minutes. Elijah James came in at 20:49 followed by Gabe Ebersole at 21:19 and Jordan Kullen at 21:42 to round out the top seven. The Pioneers also had John Dyar (22:11), Dominic Zucco (23:34), Emmanuel Akpoli (24:15) and Kodi Quimby (24:18) competing.
Point Park will be off until the RMU Colonia Invitational for a local meet on Sept. 16.
