The Case Western Reserve University men's cross country team returned to action with a strong performance at the Ohio Wesleyan Invitational on Friday night, placing third out of 22 teams at the meet at Liberty Park in Powell, Ohio.

The Spartans finished with a score of 93 points, placing behind the Ohio State Running Club (78) and Division II Ashland (82). Baldwin Wallace placed fourth (115) and Oberlin fifth (175) to round out the top-performing squads at the event.

For the first time in his career, sophomore Jacob Slater was the team's top finisher, placing third overall out of 246 runners in the 8K race with a season-best time of 25:49.0. Graduate student Stephen Henry, in action for the first time this season, was close behind Slater, finishing fifth with a mark of 26:04.8 and first-year Adam Esa followed in 12th-place with a time of 26:21.5. Junior Ethan Richter was 28th overall with a career-best mark of 26:50.2 and sophomore Owen Schessler completed the team's scorers with a 45th-place finish in a time of 27:07.0.

Rounding out the team's top seven were senior Matthew Smutny (50th, 27:13.7) and senior Hans Holst (67th, 27:34.0). Other Spartans to finish on Friday night were first-year Paul Salah (85th, 27:49.9), junior Nathan Webb (87th, 27:51.7), first-year Will Larson (99th, 28:01.5), junior Ben Smith (28:10.3, 110th), senior Victor Nash (119th, 28:18.1), graduate student Arjun Thillairajah (134th, 28:34.7), first-year Brendan Bradish (135th, 28:35.5), sophomore Praveen Sureshkumar (141st, 28:42.1), first-year George Wood-Leness (144th, 28:46.4), first-year Adam Joseph (157th, 29:00.1), junior Danny Becker (167th, 29:15.2), sophomore Angel Zeferino (188th, 29:47.4), first-year Eli Stodard (194th, 29:57.2), junior Nathaniel Hahn (213th, 31:03.5), and sophomore Joseph Rivello (228th, 32:51.1).

The top finisher in the men's 8K race was Nate Slater of Ashland with a time of 25:23.8.

The Spartans will be off from competition next weekend for returning to action at the Mike Woods Invitational in Geneseo, New York on Saturday, October 19.

Spartan Notes

• The CWRU men were ranked seventh in the latest USTFCCCA Great Lakes Regional poll.

• Four Spartans - Richter, Salah, Larson, and Joseph - recorded career-best 8K times on Friday, while an additional eight CWRU runners - Slater, Henry, Smutny, Holst, Webb, Smith, Thillairajah, and Becker - notched season-best marks during the race.