BIDDEFORD, ME – The SJC Men's Cross Country team earned a sixth-place finish with 177 points in the UNE Invitational Meet on Saturday. Eric Friend '11 (Portland, ME/Cheverus) paced the Royal Blue with a 31:29 performance and placed 35th overall in the 8K race.

John Vallo of University of Southern Maine earned individual honors with a 27:54 effort, with teammate Tim Even (28:13) finishing close behind. The Huskies showed ample depth in the meet, with an astounding 12 runners in the top 15, and ran away with team honors after totaling 24 points on the day.

UNE (74 pts) placed second, Lyndon State (79) finished third and Maine Maritime (97), University of Maine-Farmington (128), St. Joe's, Unity (188), Thomas (245) and University of Maine-Presque Isle (256) rounded out the team scores.

Due to a scoring error, runners placing 56-97 did not record times. Jacob Kostik '14 (Durham, ME) finished 59th, Jake McNeill '13 (Bath, ME) placed 62nd, Jeff Letellier '12 (Biddeford, ME) was 66th and Andrew Mockler '12 (Saco, ME) raced to a 77th-place finish.

Saint Joseph's will host the Monks' annual Alumni Meet next Saturday on the SJC course at 10:00 AM.