DELAWARE, Ohio – In the first scored event of the season, the Baldwin Wallace University men's cross country team had an impressive fifth place finish at the Ohio Wesleyan University Invitational.

The Yellow Jackets placed fifth out of 18 teams with 160 points.

Five of the top 10 regional teams, including two nationally-ranked teams, toed the starting line for the men's 8k race, giving the Yellow Jackets a chance to run against top programs early in the season and see how well they compete.

Sophomore Isaac Wilson (Tylersburg, Pa./North Clarion) was the top finisher on the men's side for the second meet in a row, crossing the line with a time of 26:01.1 for a ninth place finish out of 212 runners. The sophomore improved on his career-best 8k time, ran at last year's Inter Regional Rumble, by 17.1 seconds.

In his first career collegiate 8k race, freshman Josh Hickmott (Clay, N.Y./Liverpool) was the next Yellow Jacket to cross the finish line in 28th place with a time of 26:43.6.

Junior Spencer Mahon (North Royalton) also improved on his previous career-best time, also at last year's Inter Regional Rumble, by 3.5 seconds when he ran a time of 27:02.0 for a 40th place finish.

Senior Brady Jeffers (South Amherst/Firelands) and sophomore Nick Irwin (Westlake) rounded out the top-five finishers with times of 27:10.0 and 27:16.3, respectively, to finish 48th and 56th, respectively.

Head Coach Joe Eby noted that, traditionally, his team tends to race better at the end of the season. In previous years at the OWU Invitational, the men's team has finished third out of four teams, seventh out of nine teams and ninth out of 10 teams.  

BW will have a week off to continue to train and improve on times before traveling to Winchester, Virginia, to compete in the Hornet Harrier Invitational hosted by Shenandoah University at the Kernstown Battlefield on Saturday, September 23.