NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. -- The Bruin men's cross country team continued their steady climb this season as they finished an outstanding fourth place in the twelve-team Charger (Briar Cliff) Invite on Friday afternoon. Today's meet was held at the Adams Park Nature Preserve in North Sioux City, SD, over a course that has historically produced fast times and today was no exception. The Bruins' five scorers averaged 27:32 for eight kilometers, easily the best team clocking in program history. As was the case last week, the Bruins were barely edged from the third team spot as conference foe Dakota State defeated them 116 to 120.

Individually, Des Debesh continued his personal climb after missing a couple of early meets as he led the Bruins with an 18th place finish with a 26:54.1 clocking. Following close behind were Peyton Anthony running a personal best 27:07.3, good for 23rd, and Chris Casart, just five spots back at 28th in 27:20.7. The Bruin's final two scorers came home in 49th and 52nd with Edrei Murillo running 28:00.3 and Kaleb Wooten in 28:19.2, both personal bests.

The Bruins were rounded out with Aaron Newton finishing in 69th position in 29:13.4, Sam McIntyre crossing in 71st at 29:17.5, and Cole Wagner coming home in 31:12.3, good for 103rd place in the 133 runner field.

Head Coach Craig Christians: "It was really an exceptional day for us. I'm probably most pleased that our five scorers crossed within 1:25 of each other. That is the mark of a group that is running as a quality team. We've never been that close to Dakota State before and I think this is an indication that the conference meet is going to be a tight one, not with just us and Dakota but all of the league teams. A passed runner here or there is going to make the difference and we've been on the wrong end of that deal for two weeks in a row. I think the guys are super motivated and we are going in the right direction. Des in getting in shape as he ran almost two minutes faster than last week. Our freshmen all had personal bests and Edrei was close to a full minute under his previous season best."

The Bruins will travel to Dordt next Saturday where they will face the nationally-ranked Defenders and a high-quality field in the Holiday Inn Express Classic on the Dordt campus in Sioux Center, Iowa.