GENESEO, NY -- The Alfred University Men's Cross Country team competed at SUNY Geneseo Saturday afternoon in the 43rd annual Mike Woods Invitational.

"Very good competition brought out the best in our team," head coach Matt Phillips said. "Six of our eight guys ran their best race. Our team did an awesome job at moving up throughout the race and improving their spot as the race progressed."

The 8K race would be led by Jacob Taylor (Cohocton, NY/Avoca) as he crossed the line first for the Saxons with a time of 28:16.6. He also kept a good pace, as he continuously moved up the finishing results and gained 94 spots from where he started. The sophomore runner would be followed up by Finnegan Dean (Potsdam, NY/Potsdam Central) with a 28.37.0, and gained 66 positions himself.

Max Rasilla (Moraga, CA/Midland) would be the third finisher for Alfred University not far behind Dean, wrapping up a 28:49.5. He too climbed up the rankings, as he gained 44 spots on his opponents. Yuner Sesmas (Apollo, PA/Kiski Area) wrapped up a 29:23.7 as the fourth Saxon runner, and Garrett Farabaugh (Abington, PA/Abington Senior) took the final points of the afternoon with a 29:43.7.

While the results may say 31 out of 33 teams, there was plenty to like. The runners held their own and gained ground, and had a nice spread overall, coming in all within 1:27.2 of one another.

Next up for the team is their Saxon-for-Saxon day on November 2 at Houghton University and is the Empire 8 Championship race. The races get underway at 11:00 am.