HUGHESVILLE, Md. - The 2024 season began for the Gallaudet University men's cross country team here Friday afternoon at Oak Ridge State Park. The Bison placed seventh out of eight schools in the Seahawk Classic hosted by St. Mary's College of Maryland.

The meet was a preview of the 2024 United East Conference cross country championship course. The championship will be on Nov. 2.

The Bison had six runners participate in the race as they tallied 173 team points. St. Mary's (Md.) won the meet with 34 team points. Lancaster Bible College placed second with 58 points followed by Penn State Harrisburg (98), University of Valley Forge (104), Cairn University (109) and Bryn Athyn College (135). Notre Dame (Md.) finished 8th with 212 points.

Lancaster Bible senior Mitchell Gray won the 8K race with a time of 28 minutes and 30.3 seconds in a field of 68 runners.

First year Sincere Vazquez (Hollywood, Fla.) was Gallaudet's first runner to finish the race 30th overall with a time of 37:00.9. The only veteran on men's team, senior Jared Spinale (Camby, Ind.) was the second Bison to finish in 36th place with a time of 38:50.9 followed by first year Jay Yang (Darien, Ill. ) in 39th place (39:39.7), first year Samuel Sanchez (Los Angeles, Calif.) in 47th place (43:32.6) and first year Francois Decaux (San Nancy, France) in 63th overall (53.39.9) to complete the team scoring for GU. First year Awais Mughal (Islamabad, Pakistan) placed 64th with a time of 55:26.6.

UP NEXT
Gallaudet will travel to Lancaster, Pa., for the Charger Invitational hosted by Lancaster Bible College next Friday, Sept. 20.