ROCHESTER, NY -- The Alfred University Men's cross country team kicked off its season with a 9th place finish on Friday night in the Rodenbeck Invitational hosted by St. John Fisher University.

"Today was a good start to the season," Head Coach Matt Phillips '10 said. "It was a very hot and humid day which makes it tough to stay focused in a long race." 

244 points was the total for the Saxons, just trailing three points behind Hobart College. The top five Alfred runners all finished within 1:25 of each other, led by Jacob Taylor (Cohocton, NY/Avoca) with a time of 22:15.5. Yuner Sesmas (Apollo, PA/Kiski) was not far behind with a 22.37.2, and he was followed home by first-year Garrett Farabaugh (Abington, PA/Abington Senior) with a 22.49.0 in his first collegiate race.

Rounding out the top five for the Saxons were Finnegan Dean (Postdam, NY/Postdam Central) and Johnathan Hodges (Kenmore, NY/Kenmore). Dean completed the 6K run clocking in at 23:31.2, with Hodges wrapping it up with a 23:40.8 run time. 

"With this being the first race of the season, we know we are going to continue to improve," Phillips said. "We've learned some strategies to help us do so."

The run has only begun for Alfred, who head on to its next race at SUNY Brockport on Saturday, September 7th. The race gets rolling at 11 am.