NASHUA, NH - The Saint Joseph's College men's cross country team placed fourth with 108 points in the Rivier College Invitational 8K on Friday afternoon. Sophomore Faisal Abdillahi (Lewiston, Maine) placed fifth overall with a 27:51 effort for the Monks.

Norwich University collected top team honors with 32 points after placing four runners in the top 10 overall and Saint Anslem's Matthew Gonnella earned top individual accolades with a 26:56 performance, six seconds ahead of runner-up Nathan Deer or Norwich.

Abdillahi's time ranks as the fastest run by an SJC male runner since Ryan Prescott '09 recorded a 27:02 effort in the NCAA DIII New England Championship on November 15th, 2008.

Saint Anselm (43 pts), Emerson (78), St. Joe's (108), NHTI (133), Rivier (177) and Daniel Webster (206) rounded out the scoring institutions in the event. Nashua Community College and Suffolk University also participated but did not score.

For the Monks, Joe DiSalvo '15 (Derry, N.H.) shaved over two minutes off his 8K effort in the UNE Invitational to place seventh with a 27:53 time and Matt Boucher '15 (Augusta, Maine) finished 29th with a 30:45 effort. Jeff Merrill '15 (Fitchburg, Mass.) placed 50th (33:38), Christopher LaSonde '15 was 70th (40:15) and Robert Travers '15 (Lebanon, Maine) placed 73rd (47:08).

Saint Joseph's will compete in the Keene State College Invitational on October 1st at 11:00 AM.