WENHAM, Mass. – Placing four runners among the top 10 finishers, the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's cross country team had a strong showing in its first 8K of the season, the Pop Crowell Invitational run on the campus of Gordon College.

The Leopards and host Fighting Scots each tied with 40 points to sit atop the leaderboard, however, the tie was broken when looking at how the top five runners from each school did against each other. Gordon won that comparison, 3-2, ultimately placing the Black & Gold second.

Sophomore Ryan Ballard (Norwalk, Conn.) led Wentworth with a fourth-place finish, crossing the line with a time of 27:25. Ballard's time was 35 seconds off the pace of the individual first-place finisher.

Freshman Jon Savage (Hampton, N.H.) and senior Jack Chausse (Newport, R.I.) were next to finish for the Leopards, running neck-and-neck to each finish at 27:55, good for sixth and seventh place. Freshman Jack Newton (Gloucester, Mass.) placed ninth with a time of 28:19, while senior William Carpenter (Salisbury, Vt.) was 14th with a time of 28:52.

Sophomore Evin McIntire (Mansfield, Mass.) placed 20th (29:28), freshman Joey Cotta (Scarborough, Maine) was 24th), freshman Hayden Pierce (Jefferson, Mass.) finished 33rd (30:44), junior Nick Whitcomb (Plymouth, Mass.) ran a time of 33:31 to place 47th, and freshman Matt Murphy (Braintree, Mass.) was 52nd (36:16).

Wentworth next competes on Saturday, September 30, at the Keene State Invitational.

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