WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary men's cross country placed its first five among the top 100 and out-raced 11 regionally-ranked teams in the Gold 8K Race at the 49th Paul Short Run.
 
As a team, the Tribe, which is ranked No. 14 in the Southeast Region, finished 14th in the 43-team field. W&M topped regionally-ranked foes St. Joseph's (Pa.) (No. 9 Mid-Atlantic Region), Monmouth (No. 10 Mid-Atlantic Region), UMass Lowell (No. 10 Northeast Region), Temple (No. 11 Mid-Atlantic Region), Georgia (No. 12 South Region), Buffalo (No. 14 Northeast Region), North Dakota (No. 14 Midwest Region), American (No. 14 Mid-Atlantic Region), Bucknell (No. 15 Mid-Atlantic Region), Brown (No. 15 Northeast Region), and George Mason (No. 15 Southeast Region). W&M's top five runners had a spread of just 9.2 seconds.
 
Freshman Hayes Trapp led the way for the Tribe, placing 72nd in the 392-runner field. In his first action for the Green and Gold, he improved 15 spots over the final 1.7K to pace W&M in a time of 24:53.3.
 
Junior Zack Ericksen started fast, sitting fourth after the opening mile. After falling back into the pack, he moved up 20 spots over the final 1.7K to finish in 77th place at 24:55.3.
 
Fellow junior Nate Jennings finished just four tenths of a second behind Ericksen, finishing in 78th place at 24:55.7.
 
Sophomore Brendan DiStefano and senior Sam Pritchard rounded out the Tribe's top five. DiStefano placed 83rd at 24:57.4, while Pritchard came in 95th at 25:02.5.
 
Yale, ranked No. 7 in the Northeast Region, won the event with a total of 101, while Division II No. 3-ranked Wingate was second at 123. CAA counterpart Stony Brook rounded out the top three at 159.
 
Up Next
The Tribe returns to action on Oct. 14 when it competes at the Virginia XC23 Pre-Nationals at Panorama Farms.
 
49th Paul Short Run
Gold 8K Team Results
out of 43
1. Yale 101
2. Wingate 123
3. Stony Brook 159
4. Liberty 190
5. Penn State 203
6. Navy 203
7. Wisconsin-La Crosse 271
8. Utah Valley 278
9. Boston University 315
10. Belmont 320
11. Georgia Tech 328
12. Army 365
13. Carnegie Mellon 379
14. William & Mary 399
15. UMass Lowell 419
16. Guelph 433
17. UMass 459
18. Georgia 506
19. Buffalo 510
20. Lynchburg 535
 
W&M Results
72. Hayes Trapp 24:53.3
77. Zack Ericksen 24:55.3
78. Nate Jennings 24:55.7
83. Brendan DiStefano 24:57.4
95. Sam Pritchard 25:02.5
114. Peyton Golden 25:09.2
143. Jacob Jones 25:20.2
147. Patrick North 25:21.5
277. Luke Ellwood 26:10.9
301. Stephen Larson 26:22.6