The top five Case Western Reserve University runners broke 26 minutes on Saturday afternoon as the Spartans capitalized on a strong team performance to win the Mike Woods Invitational at the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo, New York.

Running as a close pack among the leaders for the majority of the 8K race, the Spartans notched three top-10 finishes and five inside the top 30 among the 365 runners at the meet to record their most impressive performance of the season to date.

CWRU finished with a score of 62 to win the meet, placing ahead of second-place and 19^th-ranked Geneseo (68 points) and third-place and 34^th-ranked Middlebury (95 points). Washington and Lee (154 points) and Franklin Pierce (167 points) rounded out the top-five teams at the meet.

Senior Jack Begley was the top CWRU finisher, placing third overall with a time of 24:49.3, the third-fastest mark of his career. Sophomore Aidan Nathan followed in sixth place with a career-best time of 25:06.1, with senior Robert St. Clair finishing right behind in seventh place with a time of 25:08.3, just under a second off his career-best mark.

Completing the top five for the Spartans were seniors Joe Jaster and Liam O'Reilly, who each recorded career-best times, with the former finishing 19^th in a mark of 25:33.4 and the latter crossing the line in 27^th place with a time of 25:47.9. Sophomore Nate Gilbert finished 47^th overall with a time of 26:09.8 and senior Logan Singer placed 51^st with a time of 26:16.1 to round out the top seven for CWRU.

Also finishing on Saturday for CWRU were junior Stephen Henry (58^th, 26:23.8), graduate student Anthony Hart (73^rd, 26:33.6), sophomore Hans Holst (107^th, 27:00.4), first-year Ben Smith (121^st, 27:18.5), first-year Danny Becker (27:43.3), and first-year Solomon Greene (29:08.6).

Franklin Pierce's Wondu Summa won the men's 8K race with a time of 24:40.7.

The Spartans will host their annual Alumni Meet at the Squire Valleevue Farm next Saturday, before returning to intercollegiate competition at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble on Saturday, October 15.