NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's cross country team finished 11th overall in the 8k event at the 2019 NEC Championships on Saturday morning at Stanley Quarter Park. All of the FDU runners that had competed in the NEC Championships in previous seasons set personal records in the 8k event.

RESULTS

"I felt the men ran really hard today and gave everything they had," said head coach Sharlene Milwood-Lee. "I felt we significantly improved from a season ago and many of our runners set PR's today."

Wagner finished in first place as a team with a score of 43 points. The host, Central Connecticut State University placed second overall and had the individual winner Roberto Piotto (25:19.0) on their roster. Mount St. Mary's (74 points) and St. Francis U (75 points) finished third and fourth respectively.

FDU junior Shevan Parks led the Knights with a time of 28:09.3, which was good for 51st overall. Parks also finished first among his teammates last season, but was able to shave over 1:30 from his time from a season ago. Sophomore Christopher Graham placed second on the team and 70th overall with his mark of 29:20.7. Graham finished in the top three in every event this season and also significantly improved his time from last year.

Junior Sandley Elysee saw his time from a season ago improve the most on the team at over two minutes better and he finished third on the team with a mark of 29:30.0. Sophomore Duran Crooks competed in his first NEC Championship and placed fourth on the team with his 30:25.2 time. Fellow sophomore Justin Cadas rounded out the Knights top five with his 30:42.8 mark.

Freshmen Alejandro Zapata (30:56.5) and Conroy Ellis (34:46.4) also competed for the first time in the Burgundy and Blue at the NEC Championships.

The Knights final event of the season will be on Friday, November 15, at 12 p.m. in Bethlehem, Pa.