Men's Cross Country team post strong opening performance at WUSTL Early Bird Meet

The Fontbonne University men's cross country team turned in a strong performance at the WUSTL Early Bird Meet last weekend to kick off their 2011 campaign. The Early Bird Meet was hosted by Washington University - St. Louis.

The Griffins finished the race in ninth place out of nineteen teams. There were a total of 198 runners competing in the event.

Leading the way for Fontbonne was senior Mike Horn who paced the Griffins with a time of 20:48 which was good for 48th place. Freshman Justin Hornerker ran the 6000 meter course in a time of 21:33 good for 81st place. Senior Ian Linquist finished the race with a time of 22:12 placing him 102nd overall while junior Dillon Klaffler posted a time of 22:40 which placed him 117th. Senior Bill Boxdorfer and junior Shea Naes crossed the finish line with times of 23:26 and 25:15 respectively.

First year head coach Jeff Barker is pleased with the team's effort and commitment level and has high hopes for the upcoming season.

"The weather conditions were hardly ideal for running by the start of the men's race with temperature getting into the triple digits.  I encouraged our group to run conservative at the start. Mike Horn did an amazing job running almost even splits per mile the entire race.  He will be our leader on the course this season after having a great summer of training. Freshman Justin Hornerker followed him with a solid performance and smart race.  We have lots of work to do as a group but these men are motivated to do well at the end of the season! I definitely think we will put up some good performances come October 29that the SLIAC conference meet."

The men's cross country team returns to action Friday September 9th as they travel to Warrensburg, Missouri to compete in the University of Central Missouri Mule Run at 6:45pm.