Nationally 16th-ranked University of Mount Olive placed all seven runners in the top 20 as the Trojans captured first place out of 19 teams at the Wingate University "Bulldog Stampede" men's cross country meet Saturday at Wingate, N.C. Jonathan Dahlke, Michael Munoz and Akiharu Kitagawa all finished in the top 10.
The meet took place at the site of this year's NCAA Division II Men's Cross Country Southeast Regional. Trojan head coach Matt van Lierop says the team used the meet to prepare for the regional.
"The race plan was to run a controlled pace, to run in packs, to learn the regional course and to work on team packing strategy," said van Lierop. "The guys executed the plan perfectly. We like to call it the 'Trojan Army Pack Attack.'"
Dahlke (26:11.50), Munoz (26:11.82) and Kitagawa (26:11.97) finished seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, finishing within less than a half-second of each other. Fredric Lang (26:24.38) finished 12th and Eugeni Gil (26:26.31) was 14th to complete the Trojans' scoring. Adam Craig (26:44.13) was 18th and Jacob Urys (26:46.23) finished 20th.
The Trojans compiled 50 points to finish 42 points ahead of second-place Queens and 46 points ahead of third-place Mars Hill.
Mount Olive is idle until October 9 when the Trojans travel to Charlotte, N.C., to compete in the Royal Cross Country Challenge, hosted by Queens University of Charlotte.