Sept. 11, 2004

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - Sparked by strong efforts from several key Hawks making their fall debuts, the Saint Joseph's men's cross country team opened eyes with an impressive fourth place finish at the 26th annual Spiked Shoe Cross Country meet hosted by Penn State University. Junior Mike DiDio and senior Collin Martin each finished in the top 10 to lead the Crimson and Gray.

DiDio, who was hampered by injuries late last season, excelled in his first race of 2004. The junior placed third overall with a time of 25:50.03 on the 5.2 mile course. He was less than two seconds behind the individual champion Macharia Yuot of Widener (25:48.16) and second place finisher Austin Smith of Princeton (25:48.97).

Martin, meanwhile placed ninth with a time of 26:12.11. Sophomore Teddy Meyers crossed the line third for SJU and was 28th overall in a time of 26:46.38. Both runners were racing for the first time in '04.

Juniors Joe Mohn ((26:48.95) and David Masse (27:02.93), who led the Hawks at the Duquesne Duals, crossed the line fourth and fifth for SJU and in 32nd and 42nd place respectively.

Freshman Will Rowland (27:43.99; 72nd) ran sixth and junior Rich Anderson (28:10.15; 97th) finished seventh for SJU.

Freshman Rich Ryan (29:36.79; 153rd) and sophomore Chris Kessler (29:37.09; 154th), senior Brad Schmidt (29:50.46; 162nd), sophomore Shawn Duffy (30:03.85; 167th), senior Joe Correnti (30:21.67; 173rd), junior Jeremy Fallis (32:21.40; 208th) and sophomore Brian O'Neill (33:44.86; 215th) rounded out the lineup for the Hawks.

SJU remains without the services of 2003 Atlantic 10 champion and NCAA qualifier Andre Laboy.