WATERFORD, Conn. (Oct. 19, 2024) – The USMMA men's cross country team took part in the ultra-competitive, four-race Connecticut College Invitational on Saturday up at Harkness Memorial State Park. The Mariners produced a ton of personal achievements throughout the day at a meet that featured seven teams competing that were ranked in the top-30 nationally and another 16 teams holding top-10 rankings in their respective regions.
 
The event also served as Merchant Marine's head-to-head cross country meeting against Coast Guard in the annual Superintendents' Trophy competition.
 
Meet Link

• Complete Results 

Leading the men's 8K race was junior Luke Zwiesler (Colbert, Wash.), who crossed the finish line 25:52.1, which was good for 85th place overall (82 points). That was a season-best time in the 8K for Zwiesler, who was 10 seconds better than Coast Guard's top finisher who placed 104th (100 points) in 26:04.1.
 
Junior Silas Glynn (Folsom, Calif.) was the Mariners' next runner to finish with a time of 26:59.2, scoring 154 points. The next six runners to cross were all just under a minute apart, as junior Alex Virostek (Silver Lake, Ohio) ran a 29:29.9, senior Michael Lyon (Jacksonville, Fla.) produced a time of 29:38.2, sophomore Pierce Murray (Meridian, Idaho) crossed in 29:54.4 , freshman Ethan Alliot (Sheridan, Wy.) finished in 30:16.0 and senior Blake Giannamore (Portland, Texas) came in at 30:21.0.
 
In the non-championship "white race," freshman Thomas Bailey (Hartville, Ohio) was the first Mariner to cross the finish line with a time of 33:20.0. It was over a two-minute personal best for Bailey.
 
Up next, the Mariners will compete in the Central Connecticut State Mini-Meet this coming Friday, Oct. 25, up in New Britain, Conn. Action is set to get underway with the first of two men's 5K races beginning at 4 p.m. at Stanley Quarter Park.
 
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