(Fairborn, OH) The Men's Cross Country team opened their 2022 season at the Mike Baumer XC Classic in Fairborn, Ohio on Friday, September 2. The Men ran an opening race distance of a 5k to start the year before transitioning to their normal 8k.

The team faced a very talented field, that was stacked with NCAA Division 1 competition, which made it a very fast and competitive race. The team had a small group make it to the starting line for the first meet of the season. The four that would compete were Luke Bentz, Theodore Eising, Avery Sanchez, and Adam Fisch.

The team would be led by Bentz who crossed the line first in total time of 18:02. Eising ended up running his college cross country 5k best time of 18:32. The third runner to cross the line was freshman newcomer Fisch who finished right behind Eising at 18:38, his fastest ever 5k. Sanchez rounded out the Cardinals perfomance with a time of 19:02, which is his best college 5k in Cross Country.

"We know this was going to be a tough meet to compete in it," said Head Coach Dominic Santina. "This was a good evaluation of where our training is coming out of summer and into the fall.  We have a little bit of time to rest up and get back to work with training before our next meet."

The men will be back in action on Saturday, September 17 at the Raider-Knight Invite hosted by Grand Rapids Community College.