Men's Cross Country | 9/1/2017 11:13:00 PM

HOUGHTON, NY – Senior James Bailey (Danvers, MA/Danvers) and junior Evan Feigel (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) finished first and second overall in leading the RIT men's cross country team to a second place finish in the season-opening Highlander Twilight Invitational, hosted by Houghton College on Friday evening.
 
RIT battled The College of New Jersey, ranked third in the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region and 28th in Division III throughout, finishing with 36 team points, while the Lions won with 25 points.
 
Bailey and Feigel went right to the lead and paced the field throughout the race. Bailey, a 2016 NCAA All-American, crossed the finish line first over the 5,000-meter course in a time of 15:34.0 with a mile rate of 5:01. Feigel was just over three seconds behind Bailey in second with a time of 15:37.2 and mile rate of 5:02.
 
The College of New Jersey had the next six finishers before sophomore Reid Kovacs (Palo Alto, CA/Henry M. Gunn) crossed the line ninth in a time of 15:59.9. Freshman Herlandt Lino was 11th overall with a time of 16:03.8, while junior Dan Jones (Lockport, NY/Lockport) finished 13th overall in 16:10.0.
 
Overall, 12 RIT runners placed in the top-30. Andrew Chabot (Campton, NH/Plymouth Regional) and John Mooney (Norwich, NY/Norwich) were 16th and 19th, respectively, while Owen Brewer (24th), Douglas Luba (26th), Tommy Papish (Strongsville, OH/Strongsville) (27th), Benjamin Beaudry (29th) and Nate Butler (Warren, OH/Lakeview) (30th) were among the top finishers for the Tigers.
 
"This was a good place to start our season," said RIT men's cross country head coach David Warth. "The College of New Jersey is a great team and we competed well with them. "I am proud of James (Bailey) and Evan (Feigel) for leading the entire race."
 
RIT is back in action on Saturday, Sept. 16 at the Bill Fritz Invitational hosted by Rowan University. The meet begins at 1:30 p.m.