After surprising the East Region a year ago and qualifying for the Final Round of the NCAA Championships, Dage Minors and his Franklin Pierce University Men's Cross Country teammates were left on the outside looking in, as it finished fourth at the NCAA Championship East Regional, co-hosted by Franklin Pierce and Merrimack at Mines Falls Park Trail.
American International, which claimed the Northeast-10 Conference crown two weeks ago, captured the East Region title.
The top three teams in the 10k race advanced to the Final Round of the NCAA Championships, which left Franklin Pierce as the first team out. Franklin Pierce did have three runners earn All-Region honors in Nashua, as the top-25 finishers earned the accolade.
Sophomore B.J. Smith led the team in seventh with a time of 31:40.0, junior Colton Ham placed 14th crossing the line in a time of 32:06.6 and senior Antoine Gisore clocked 32:20.9 finishing 20th.
Franklin Pierce rounded out its scoring five with two more top-50 finishes in the 191-runner field. Sophomore Minors placed 27th after recording a time of 32:34.8 and junior Makopa Rugabirwa finished 43rd with a time of 33:01.4.
Also competing for Franklin Pierce were junior Isaac Fithian in 67th with a time of 33:48.0 and sophomore Jon Holmes finished 70th with a time of 33:53.5.
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