Friday, October 01, 2010

For the third time in as many races this season, senior Joel Hartenberger (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia) led the Valparaiso men's cross country team as it ran to a 14th place finish Friday at the Notre Dame Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind.

The Crusaders tallied 416 points for their 14th place showing in the Gold race at Notre Dame, beating fellow Horizon League team Green Bay.  Eastern Michigan earned the team title, while North Central's Mike Spain was the top individual runner.

Hartenberger covered the 8K course at Notre Dame in a time of 26:40, crossing the line in 69th place out of a field of 137 runners.  Junior Nick Fagan (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) was the next Valpo runner to finish the race, coming home in 81st place with a time of 26:54.

Redshirt sophomore Patrick Johnson (Oil City, Pa./Cranberry [Monmouth]) was the third Crusader to finish Friday, completing the 8K course in 27:18, good for 93rd place.  Sophomore Wally Bradford (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) placed 101st with a time of 27:36, while junior Jordan Piaskowy (Crete, Ill./Illiana Christian) rounded out Valpo's top-five runners with a time of 28:04 to finish 109th.

Valparaiso returns to action in just over two weeks, as the Crusaders travel to the Evansville Invitational in Evansville, Ind. for their final tuneup for the 2010 Horizon League Championships.