On Friday, the Amherst men’s cross country team sent nine runners to compete at the Paul Short Run, hosted by Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn. Competing in the Gold Race, the Mammoths placed 25th with 664 points in a field of mostly Division I and II schools and were the second highest placing Division III team behind Haverford College. Utah State University bested Georgetown, winning the 40-team race with 119 points to the Hoyas’ 167 points.

The Mammoths’ finish was especially impressive, since at the one-mile mark in the race the team was in last place. However, they had an excellent final four miles of the race, demonstrating their race savvy and fitness.

“The men stuck to the plan of a conservative start,” Coach Danny Feldman said. “We wanted the runners to use the Paul Short Run as a representation of the atmosphere and competition of Nationals. It was important that runners not get caught up in the energy surrounding the field of the nationally ranked teams attending.”

Leading the way for the Mammoths was Mohamed Hussein ’18 with his 89th-place finish in the 359-person field. Hussein covered the fast 8k course in a time of 24:46, the fourth-fastest Division III finisher in the race.

Just six seconds behind him was Clark Ricciardelli ’20E, who placed 106th in his third cross-country race.

In his season debut, after dealing with injury and illness for the last two races, Cosmo Brossy ’19 impressed with a new personal best of 25:00 for the 8k.

Shortly behind him was classmate Tucker Meijer ’19, who also set a new personal best of 25:03 and placed 133rd. The junior passed 131 runners from the one-mile mark to the finish of the race. Rounding out the team’s top-five scorers was Spencer Ferguson-Dryden ’20, who placed 209th with a time of 25:31. This was a new personal best for the sophomore by one minute and 21 seconds.

First-year Braxton Schuldt finished sixth for the team, running 25:55. Only twenty seconds behind him was Justin Barry ’18, who finished in a time of 26:15.

Kristian Sogaard ’19 was the team’s eighth runner to finish, covering the course in a time of 26:31. Jack Wesley ’18 was the team’s final scorer, and he completed the race in 27:04 , finishing 350th overall.

“It was really exciting to compete against a deep Division I field for the first time, but even better to score really well,” Brossy said. “I’m really proud of how everyone ran today given the competition, and I believe we can do a lot of big things this season, but for now it’s back to the grindstone.”

The rest of the team will compete this weekend at the James Earley Invitational at Westfield State, the site of last year’s Regionals meet.

After fall break, championship season begins with Little Threes, where the Mammoths will seek to end Williams’ 29-year winning streak in the annual meet.