HOUGHTON, NY – The Alfred University men's cross country team finished eighth out of 10 teams at the Houghton Highlander XC Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Saxons were led by Max Rasilla (Moraga, CA/Midland) who scored in 44^th place (finished 62^nd overall) with a time of 28:52.4, besting his season high time by 29 seconds. Rasilla led all seven runners who all had top times.
 
"We spent some time working on a race plan and dialing in paces for the Saxons today, and I believe it paid off tremendously," Head Coach Matt Phillips '10 said. "The guys team especially benefitted from our strategy today, their results speak for themselves."
 
As a team, the Saxons were 4:44 faster than the 2021 team at the Highlander course. AU defeated Finger Lakes Community College and Keuka College. George Mecca (Derby, NY/Eden), Nick Erickson (Falconer, NY/Falconer Central), Kevin Flint (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford), Finnegan Dean (Potsdam, NY/Potsdam Central) and Connor Kerr (Tioga, PA/Williamson) all had season best times, bettering their marks by over a minute. Dean, Erickson, Flint and Yuner Sesmas (Apollo, PA/Kiski Area) all had personal best times.
 
"We have had a tough few weeks and this meet really allowed for us to run great times on a quick course," Erickson said. "Coach had a plan set out for us and we hit the times we needed which allowed for us to really succeed at this meet as a group."
 
Mecca finished in 72^nd place (29:19.2), Flint was 77^th (29:33.0), Sesmas was 78^th (29:37.8), Dean was 91^st (30:29.9), Erickson was 105^th (32:20.4) and Kerr was 109^th (33:11.1).
 
The Saxons will next compete at the Empire 8 Championships, hosted by Houghton University on Saturday, October 29.