The X-Men cross country team ran to a first place finish at the Murray Keatinge Invitational meet in Orono, Maine this past Saturday and in doing so became the first Canadian school ever to win this meet.

Hosted by the University of Maine, the X-Men earned 30 points in the first place victory, well ahead of second place Holy Cross who finished in second spot with 61. The University of Maine was third with 66 points, followed by Dalhousie (78), Robert Morris (113) and the University of New Brunswick (187).

The X-Men ran a strong race with four runners in the top 10 including two-time defending AUS champion and CIS bronze medalist David Gerych who placed second overall. Gerych ran the 5 mile race in a time of 25:07.01. Fellow AUS competitor Russell Christie of Dalhousie won the race in a time of 24:41.42.

Gerych was followed closely by teammates Petr Doubravsky (25:12.53) and Lee McCarron (25:20.51) who were third and fourth, respectively. John Corbit was the fourth X-Man in the top 10, placing 9th at 25:49.85. Brent Addison had a solid showing for StFX, coming in 12th spot in a time of 25:58.14.

The X-Men ran with their complete team of 12 runners, with the remaining StFX team finishing as follows in the field of 63 competitors.

Connor MacGuire, 25th, 26:58.82
Julian MacLean, 27th, 27:07.51
Aaron Doucette, 28th, 27:09.94
Ivan Lewis, 35th, 27:31.71
Zach MacDonald, 36th, 27:33.17
Kyle Tramble, 46th, 27:54.64
Kenton Sportak, 48th, 28:12.29

With the first place finish, the X-Men have taken top honors in all three meets so far this season. Next on the schedule is the UNB invitational in Fredericton, NB on Saturday, Oct. 17th.

For complete results from the Maine meet, click here.