CRETE, Neb. --The Bruin men's cross country team placed two runners in the top ten at today's 25th annual Dean White Invitational held on the Doane University campus. As he has done all season, Desyebelew Debesh led the Bruins with a ninth-place finish running 28:20.8 for the eight kilometer, three loop course run in warm and breezy conditions.
Just seven seconds back was Edrei Murillo running perhaps his best race of the season with a tenth place finish in 28:20.9. The Bruins' third and fourth runners were not far behind as Chris Casart and Cole Wagner placed 22nd and 23rd in 29:31.3 and 29:33.0 respectively. The Bruins' final scorer was freshman Gabe Poppen finishing in 32:07.4, good for 50th place among the 68 finishers.
As a team, the Bruins were fourth of six scoring teams. Nationally-ranked meet host Doane put four men in the top seven to claim the meet title.
Head Coach Craig Christians was very pleased with the performances he saw today. "The times were not super fast but this is a tough course and today was all about competing. I was very proud of the way we did that today. Des ran great again and I thought Edrei had a breakthrough today, closing the gap to Des. Putting two guys in the top ten in this field was outstanding. Chris and Cole ran solid races and I like the way they are progressing. Gabe had a rough day, part of it due to a shoe issue, but even he competed well, holding off a hard-charging runner in the final stretch."
The Bruins will compete for the fifth weekend in a row next Saturday as they travel back to the Adams Nature Preserve in North Sioux City for the Briar Cliff Invite before getting a much-needed break from racing.
