Men's Cross Country | 10/7/2017 3:46:00 PM

HOUGHTON, NY – Junior Otto Kingstedt (Stockholm, Sweden/Cybergymnasiet) won his second consecutive race, as the RIT men's cross country team finished second out of 16 teams at the Highlander Cross Country Invitational, hosted by Houghton College in warm, humid conditions on Saturday.
 
RIT, ranked eighth in the United States Track and Field & Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Atlantic Region poll, finished with a team score of 65 points, just behind fifth ranked New York University, who recorded 43 points. Ramapo College was right behind the Tigers in third with 68 points.
 
Kingstedt enjoyed a dominant race, going to the front of the pack in the 187 runner race and pulling away to win over the 8,000-meter course by nearly 18 seconds over Neil Saddler of NYU in a season-best time of 24:46.6, including a mile pace of 5:00. He is the first Tiger to beat 25 minutes in a race this season.
 
Sophomore Reid Kovacs (Palo Alto, CA/Henry M. Gunn) emerged with a breakout finish for the Tigers, finishing sixth overall in a time of 25:33.8. That time broke his collegiate best over 8,000-meters by nearly two minutes.
 
Senior John Mooney (Norwich, NY/Norwich) also had a standout performance for the Tigers, recording a 14th place finish in a personal-best time of 25:52.9. Junior Evan Feigel (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) finished 17th overall in a time of 26:03.9, while classmate Dan Jones (Lockport, NY/Lockport) rounded out RIT's top-five, placing 29th in 26:23.8.
 
Sophomore Andrew Chabot (Campton, NH/Plymouth Regional) (44th – 26:50.2) and freshman Ben Beaudry (Palo Alto, CA/Palo Alto) (48th – 26:53.8) rounded out RIT runners in the top-50.
 
"I thought our team ran a strong race and I was proud of how we competed," said RIT head coach David Warth. "Otto (Kingstedt) and Reid (Kovacs) ran really well, but the race of the day came from John Mooney (Norwich, NY/Norwich), as he moved from the 20s early in the race to a top-15 finish. October is the time to be rounding into shape and this team is right on schedule."
 
RIT will also compete at Houghton on Nov. 11 at the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship. The Tigers placed second at the season-opening Highlander Twilight Invitational on Sept. 1.

The Tigers are right back in action next Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Yellowjacket Invitational, hosted by the University of Rochester. The race from nearby Genesee Valley Park begins at 11:45 a.m. and is a Tiger Den Event.