Felician Athletics - 10/3/08 MEN'S CROSS-COUNTRY - Felician Men Are Top D-II Team At Paul Short Run

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Felician College men's cross-country team placed 12th out of 41 teams at the Lehigh University Paul Short College Men's "White" race on Friday afternoon at Lehigh's Goodman Campus. Felician was the top Division II finisher in the team standings.

Billed as one of the largest cross-country meets in the country, the Paul Short Run attracted more than 4,100 collegiate and high school runners. The College Men's "White" Race was a varsity 8,000-meter event featuring most of the Division II and III schools in attendance as well as a smattering of small D-Is. With 415 points, the Golden Falcons outscored eight other Division II teams, including five from the East Region, plus Division-I Howard University. Felician is No. 8 in the most recent D-II East Region coaches ranking.

For the third consecutive week, freshman James Vander Wiele (Pequannock, NJ/Pequannock Township) ran at least 45 seconds faster than his closest Felician teammate. The reigning Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Rookie of the Week, Vander Wiele came in 20th out of 270 finishers with a season-best time of 26 minutes, 26 seconds.

The Golden Falcons put two other entrants in the top 100, both with personal-best times. Junior Brad Schepise (Milltown, NJ/Spotswood) finished 58th with a time of 27:17, and senior Alex Wright (Stockholm, NJ/Wallkill Valley) was 83rd in 27:39. Wright has broken 28 minutes in two consecutive races after never before doing so in his college career. Also scoring for Felician were sophomores Jay Rodgers (Westmont, NJ/Haddon Township) (111th, 27:59) and Huan Tran (Belleville, NJ/Belleville) (143rd, career-low 28:31).

Ithaca College won the event with 97 points. Sophomore Greg Billington of Wake Forest University was the individual winner (25:21).

Complete Results