Pair of Ravens in top 20

RINDGE, N.H. (November 9, 2014) – Sophomore Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda) finished 17th with an 8k time of 28:50 on Sunday morning to lead the Franklin Pierce University men's cross country team to a third-place finish at the Northeast-10 Conference Championship, hosted by Franklin Pierce. The Ravens finished with 124 points in the 15-team field.

Minors was one of two Franklin Pierce runners to finish in the top-20 of the 163-athlete field, as fellow sophomore Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.) ran a 28:52 to finish on Minors' heels in 18th. Senior Antoine Gisore (Concord, N.H.) cracked the top 25 with a 24th-place finish after stopping the clock at 29:05.

Sophomore B.J. Smith (Concord, N.H.) in 32nd at 29:22 and junior Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) in 40th at 29:37 rounded out Franklin Pierce's five scoring positions in the meet. Junior Makopa Rugabirwa (Concord, N.H.) was the final Raven to finish in the top 50, as he placed 42nd with a time of 29:40.

American International blew out the field en route to the program's first Northeast-10 cross country title. The Yellow Jackets fielded the first three finishers, as well as six of the first eight, and placed all five of their scoring positions in the top-seven to amass just 19 points. The performance led to a 33-point victory over second-place Stonehill (52 points), which was another 72 points in front of Franklin Pierce. Bentley (144) and Adelphi (161) filled out the top-five positions.

Individually, AIC junior Mike Biwott claimed the Northeast-10 crown (26:08) and was followed, eventually, by two of his teammates: senior Conor Cashin in second (27:43) and John Chirchir in third (27:44). Assumption senior Anthony Fierimonte in fourth (27:50) and Stonehill senior Bryan Wilcox in fifth (27:59) rounded out the top five.

The Ravens return to action on Saturday, Nov. 22 at the NCAA Championship East Regional, co-hosted by Franklin Pierce and Merrimack in Nashua, N.H.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce cross country apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).