ERIE, PA – The Alfred University men's cross country team finished second at the Penn State-Behrend Twilight Meet on Friday evening.
 
The Saxons scored 53 points as a team with three runners finishing in the Top-10. Behrend won with 15 points, the lowest possible in a small meet that scores only the Top-5 finishers for each team. Westminster (Pa.) finished with 71 team points in third place.
 
"Really proud of not only running in our first 8K of the season, but how well the team did in doing so," Head Coach Matt Phillips '10 said. "They got out and found themselves as a pack, moving up the ranks together throughout the race. Both teams supported each other throughout their races and especially at the finish line."
 
All five of the AU runners who scored points finished in the Top-15 while the first eight Saxons to cross the finish line finished in the Top-20 scoring positions. Yuner Sesmas (Apollo, PA/Kiski Area) was the first non-Behrend runner to cross the finish line, finishing seventh with a time of 28:51.1, just five seconds ahead of the next runner (also from PSB) and their time of 28:56.2.
 
Finnegan Dean (Potsdam, NY/Potsdam Central) ran a 29:01.9 to finish ninth in the scoring with Jacob Taylor (Cohocton, NY/Avoca) close behind in 12^th with a 29:28.5. Kevin Flint (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford) was the next Saxon to cross the line with a time of 29:58.4 for 17^th place overall. Max Rasilla (Moraga, CA/Midland) rounded out the Top-5 for AU with a time of 31:26.1 for 23^rd place overall.
 
"This was a great first real distance race. It was great to see everyone walk away with some personal records and some hardware," Flint said.
 
Nick Erickson (Falconer, NY/Falconer Central) ran a 33:21.9 in 28^th place with Carter Buckman (Syracuse, NY/Westhill) close behind with a 34:11.6 in 30^th.
 
Connor Kerr (Tioga, PA/Williamson) and Charlie Warner (Chittenango, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) closed out the Saxon's efforts with times of 38:15.7 and 43:15.6, respectively earning 34^th and 36^th places out of the 37 runners.
 
The Saxons will next head to Rochester, NY to run at Roberts Wesleyan University on Saturday, September 23 at 10:00am.