SOUTH BEND, Indiana – The McNeese men's cross country team had never run in a meet here before but it's a good bet they'll leave a good impression after the Cowboys placed ninth overall in the 21-team field at the 57th Annual Notre Dame Invitational and finishing ahead of nationally ranked teams such as No. 11 North Carolina State and No. 26 Michigan and just one point shy of 29th-ranked Washington State.
David Rooney paced the Cowboys with a fifth place overall finish after running a 23:40 in 5-mile race. Alex Bruce-Littlewood clocked in at 24:13 for 22nd place and Jarrett LeBlanc ran a 24:20 for 34th place.
“This is a tremendous finish for us,” said McNeese coach Brendon Gilroy. “We beat out a couple of nationally ranked teams, came within one point of another and within 30 points of Texas A&M (14th nationally) and New Mexico (No. 21 ranking).
Tulsa, who is ranked 20th in the country, won the event with 104 points followed by 17th-ranked Princeton with a 138 score and the host team and No. 24 Notre Dame at 143 to round out the top three teams.
The Cowboys brought eight runners to compete in the event that should help the Cowboys garner some points for the national meet later in the fall.
Daniel Cliffe ran a 24:50 to finish 85th as he was followed by Alex Evans (24:50, 87th), Lewi Manirumva (25:35, 138th), Humberto Gonzales (25:44, 141st), and Nicholas Kiprono(26:04, 149th).
Rounding the top 10 scoring teams were No. 10 Florida State in fourth place with a score of 152, No. 25 Eastern Washington at 167, No. 21 New Mexico 200, No. 14 Texas A&M 201, No. 29 Washington State 230, McNeese State 231, and No. 11 North Carolina State 237.
McNeese was the only team to finish in the top 10 not ranked in the national polls.
North Carolina placed 11th with 263 points followed by Eastern Michigan at 289, Ohio State 296, Illinois 298, Indiana State 334, Butler 361, Navy 415, Liberty 425, Michigan 500 and Mississippi State 587.
Also be sure to check out results and race footage, compliments of Flotrack, here: