Courtesy: Dan GrossmanUNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (9/11/10) - Junior Donn Cabral won the individual title and led the Princeton men's cross country team to victory at the 2010 Spiked Shoe Invitational hosted by Penn State University on Saturday, Sept. 11. Princeton sent 18 out onto the course to see where it stood among 15 other squads in its first competition of the 2010 season including its top regional opponent Georgetown.
Cabral dominated the competition clocking in with a winning time of 25:13.4. He was joined by two teammates in the top 10 out of the 193 runners competing. Classmates Brian Leung finished fifth with a time of 25:21.2 and Joe Stilin was ninth at 25:35.7.
Rounding out Princeton's top five scorers was sophomores Michael Franklin at 25:54.7 for 15th place and George Galasso at 25:55.8 in 18th place. Galasso led a blanket finish of Tigers, as freshman Jonathan Vitez, freshman Tyler Udland and senior Dennis Walsh followed in at 19-20-21.
Princeton's top five earned an average time of 25:36.2, nearly 10 seconds faster than second-place Georgetown's time of 25:42.2. Navy followed in third place, followed by the host school and Division III squad Geneseo in fifth place.
Earning a victory over last year's Mid-Atlantic Regional winner Georgetown, which is currently ranked first in the regional to Princeton's third place ranking, gives the Tigers some early season confidence but will take the next few weeks to prepare for the thick of its competition.
The team will split into two groups to head to Lehigh's Paul Short Invitational on Friday, Oct. 1 and Wisconsin's Adidas Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 2.
Princeton Finishers
1. Donn Cabral 25:13.4
5. Brian Leung 25:21.5
9. Joe Stilin 25:35.7
15. Mike Franklin 25:54.7
18. George Galasso 25:55.8
19. Jonathan Vitez 25:56.1
20. Tyler Udland 25:59.8
21. Dennis Walsh 26:01.1
25. Kyle Soloff 26:09.1
26. Alejandro Arroyo Yamin 26:11.6
27. Mark Amirault 26:11.7
48. Chris Bendtsen 26:43.5
51. Peter Maag 26:46.7
62. Garrett Rowe 27:05.9
65. Christian Birky 27:08.7
66. Peter Callahan 27:08.9
68. Mike Palmisano 27:12.7
91. Nathan Mathabane 27:46.0
