The Misericordia University men's cross country team had 11 of 13 runners post career-best times and three of the top 13 times in school history as the Cougars finished ninth out of 36 teams at the Gettysburg Invitational Saturday afternoon.
 
“This was a fantastic meet for our men,” said MU head coach Chris Wadas. “This is arguably the best race in the history of our program as far as our scoring top five is concerned. We beat a few teams who have received votes in the regional rankings and were within striking distance of a few others.”
 
Dave McLean led the way for the Cougars once again, finishing 33^rd overall in a time of 26:42- a personal-best and the seventh-fastest time in MU history.
 
“Dave had a fantastic race for us today,” said Wadas. “He broke his PR by nearly 45 seconds and continues to get stronger as the season progresses.”
 
AJ Limongelli also had a very strong race for MU, finishing 42^nd in 26:50. The time bested his previous best by 48 seconds and ranks as the 10^th-fastest time in school history.
 
“AJ had a great race today,” said Wadas. “He was our top runner at the end of last season, and we've been waiting for him to come around and put it all together this year.”
 
Freshman Mikael Hause finished in 27:01, good for the best time ever run by an MU freshman. It also placed him just outside the top ten times in Cougar history.
 
Josh Krall (27:37) and Zach Bottone (27:56) each posted personal-best times to round out the top five for the Cougars.
 
“Josh ran another strong race for us,” said Wadas. “Zach Bottone is our athlete of the day, in my opinion, shattering his PR by over a minute. He works really hard, and it's terrific to see him get that result. It's also incredible to see us place five runners under 28 minutes.”
 
Jarret Higley (28:58) ran a personal-best time to finish sixth for the Cougars, while Jeremy Osko (29:09) was just seconds off his personal-best to round out the counting seven.
 
James Connors (29:29), Glenn Layaou (29:59), Nathan Brown (30:49), Ryan Foster (31:15), and Carl Daubert (33:19) all ran career-best times in the race, while Marty Castaldi's 29:48 was a season-best.
 
“This was a great result for us at this point in the season,” said Wadas. “Now that we are into our faster workouts, I think that we will continue to shave time off our results. We are peaking and improving at the right time, just as we head into the MAC Championships and regionals. This only will give us confidence to keep improving.”
 
The Cougars will return to action on October 27^th, when they host the MAC Championship meet. For more information, please see the link on the sidebar of either the men's or women's cross country page.