HOUGHTON, NY – The men's cross-country team competed at the Empire 8 XC Championships on Saturday, at their home course. The quest for a top 2 finish was a large task, having been beaten, handily, by Nazareth and St. John Fisher earlier in the season. The men made history today, running the 4^th fastest top five team average in school history. By doing so, they narrowly missed catching St. John Fisher in 2^nd place, by 6 points. Fisher had beaten Houghton by 90+ points earlier in October. Caleb Kasper led the way for the men, finishing in 4^th place, and running with the top pack for a majority of the time. Four other men finished with all-conference honors, and big personal best times. Zach Tucker and Amos Bixler finished in 2^nd Team, and Sam Lyon and Ben Allen finished in 3^rd team.
 
Top 5 Results (77 finishers)
4^th Caleb Kasper – 26:02.8
11^th Zach Tucker – 26:37.8
14^th Amos Bixler – 26:53.1
17^th Sam Lyon – 27:01.9
19^th Ben Allen – 27:08.4
 
"I had a feeling that the men had a big day in their legs. At the Highlander Invite on 10/8, things went just okay. Since then, they really focused, hit some hard-anaerobic workouts, and peaked well. Foremost, our pack from 2-6 really pushed the middle and end of this race. From 5k to 8k they passed 19 people, collectively, and put themselves in position for a potential upset of St. John Fisher. Our top 5 had a collective personal best time of 217 seconds, which is 43 per person! It's a young group, but they've put themselves on the map a little bit today," said Coach Hager after the race.
 
The men will compete at the NCAA Niagara Regional Championships on 11/12, hosted by the University of Rochester.