The Case Western Reserve University men's cross country team returned to action on Friday, competing at the Spartan Invitational and the All-Ohio Championships.

CWRU opened the day at the Spartan Invitational, hosted by Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan at the Forest Akers Golf Course, the site of the 2022 NCAA Division III Championship. Senior Robert St. Clair paced the Spartans at the meet, finishing 35^th out of 246 runners in the men's 8K race with a time of 25:32.43. It marked the first time in his career that he has been CWRU's top finisher in a race.

St. Clair was followed by senior Jack Begley in 42^nd place with a time of 25:40.64, and sophomore Aidan Nathan in 57^th place with a time of 25:56.35. Completing the five scorers for the Spartans was junior Stephen Henry in 86^th place with a career-best mark of 26:35.12, and senior Liam O'Reilly in 101^st place with a time of 26:46.20.

Also in action at the Spartan Invitational for CWRU were sophomore Nate Gilbert (142^nd, 27:37.27), senior Spencer Weigand (158^th, 27:50.66), and senior Alex Loeper (171^st, 28:05.71).

The Spartans men placed 10^th out of the 18 teams at the meet, including fourth out of the five Division III teams.

Meanwhile, at the All-Ohio Championships in Cedarville, Ohio, the Spartans placed 12^th out of 29 teams overall and third out of 14 Division III teams.

Graduate student Anthony Hart was the team's top finisher, placing 100^th out of 436 runners overall and 24^th out of 180 Division III runners in the men's 8K race with a time of 26:35.5. He was followed by junior Arjun Thillairajah in 106^th-place (25^th DIII) with a time of 26:40.2 and sophomore Hans Holst in 111^th-place (28^th DIII) with a time of 26:43.1. Rounding out the top five for CWRU were first-year Ben Smith in 122^nd-place (30^th DIII) with a mark of 26:51.1, and first-year Danny Becker in 134^th-place (35^th DIII) with a time of 26:59.8.

Other finishers at the All-Ohio Championships for the Spartans were first-year Solomon Greene (139^th overall, 38^th DIII, 27:04.4), senior Jacob Conard (173^rd overall, 50^th DIII, 27:31.7), first-year Nathan Webb (184^th overall, 57^th DIII, 27:41.5), sophomore Victor Nash (219^th overall, 72^nd DIII, 28:04.4), senior Chris Heermann (239^th overall, 80^th DIII, 28:15.8), sophomore Donald Folk (247^th overall, 86^th DIII, 28:20.5), and senior Ben Browngardt (314^th overall, 121^st DIII, 29:17.5).

Case Western Reserve will be off from competition next weekend, before returning to compete at the Mike Woods Invitational in Geneseo, New York on Saturday, October 1.