COMPLETE RESULTS

The High Point University men's cross country team placed 12th behind strong performances from sophomores Anthony Berkis (Oshawa, Ontario/Paul Dwyer) and Neal Darmody (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday at the Les Bolstad Golf Course at the University of Minnesota.

"There was individual improvement across the board for the returners," said head coach Mike Esposito. "Anthony took about a minute off his time from the same course last season, and Neal probably took about 40 seconds off. For the freshmen, it was their first 8K on a pretty big stage and they competed pretty well."

Berkis placed 48th out of 167 runners in a time of 25:53.4 to lead the Panthers. Darmody followed in 58th in a time of 26:05.6.

A pair of freshmen were the next two Panthers to cross the finish line, with Stuart Edmonds (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) in 89th with a time of 26:43.7 and Jacob Smith (Brockville, Ontario/Thousand Islands Secondary School) in 92nd in 26:46.9. Junior Jevin Monds (Whitecourt, Alberta/Hilltop) was the fifth HPU runner across the line to close out the scoring in 94th with a time of 26:48.0.

Two others finished for High Point. Freshman Dakota Peachee (Garner, N.C./West Johnston) placed 100th in 26:53.5 and senior Josh Cashman (Deep River, Conn./Valley Regional) took 117th with a time of 27:18.6.

Iowa State took home the team title with 71 points and an average time of 25:11. Oklahoma was runner-up, Duke third and host Minnesota fourth. HPU averaged 26:28 to place 12th out of 18 teams.

The Panthers' next meet is the Blue Ridge Open at Appalachian State on Oct. 16 in Boone, N.C. High Point University hosts the Big South Championship for the first time ever on Oct. 31 at Shady Oaks on High Point Road in Winston-Salem, N.C. HPU was picked to finish second in the Big South preseason poll.