It was a relatively successful weekend for the men’s cross country team as the Jeffs took home fifth place finish at the 19-team Univ. of Southern Maine Invitational.

As a team, the Jeffs finished the five-mile course just seconds behind Tufts, who took fourth place overall. MIT, Bates and Bowdoin also beat out Amherst, but the Jeffs’ performance was strong enough to put them in the top quarter of the field. Notably, the Jeffs’ 113 points put them far ahead of NESCAC rivals Conn. College (177 points) and Colby (206 points).

Once again, it was Dan Crowley ’16 who stole the individual spotlight with a time of 25:46.73, good for ninth overall and further signaling his emergence as the team’s pace-setter. Also turning in an impressive effort for the second week in a row was KC Fussell ’15 (25:51.80), who finished at no. 11. First-year Raymond Meijer (26:19.52, 26th) and senior Alvaro Morales (26:23.80) scored top-30 finishes, while Jeff Seelaus ’16 (26:47.52) also enjoyed a solid afternoon on the course.

As was the case last weekend, Coach Erik “Ned” Nedeau was pleased with what he saw at USM.

“It was another very solid weekend,” Nedeau said. “The guys have been doing a great job of working out and pushing each other during the week and then carrying that into race day. While there were some time gaps between guys, the great majority of them came in the last mile; up to that point, everybody continued to work extremely well together.”

When the Jeffs head to the Purple Valley Classic next weekend (Sept. 28), they will be looking to build their endurance on the back end of the course.

“Next weekend will really be more of a workout than a race,” Nedeau said. “We will focus on that hard last mile or so, even if it’s at the expense of individual times and the team score.”

The Jeffs’ first big test of the fall will come on Oct. 12, when they take part in the NEICAAA Championships.