DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Graduate student Mike Olson (Sutton, Mass.) cruised to a tenth place finish and the Plymouth State University men's cross country team posted an impressive eighth place showing in a highly competitive field at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational at Robert Dowd Cross Country Course on Sunday.
 
Competing against schools from all three NCAA divisions, Olson posted a career best time of 25:00.33 in the team's first 8k race of the year, just barely missing the sub-25-minute mark.
 
Plymouth State was the top-scoring D-III school at the race, also topping several D-II schools, to take eighth place with 292 points.
 
The Basics:

• UMass Dartmouth Invitational – 8th of 39 Teams

Notable Team Scores:

• Boston University (1st – 42), Stonehill (2nd – 79), UMass Lowell (3rd – 96), Assumption (7th – 288), Plymouth State (8th – 292), SNHU (9th – 305), UMass Dartmouth (13th – 445), Southern Maine (16th – 508), Eastern Connecticut State (18th – 560), Rhode Island College (31st – 853), Keene State (32nd – 866)

How it Happened:

• Olson posted the fastest time among all D-III runners to take tenth overall.
• The duo of junior Jacob Gallaher (Gambrills, Md.) and senior Michael Barrett (Hartford, Conn.) hit their career best times in 25:54.78 and 25:58.60, respectively, while posting top-50 finishes.
• Freshman Cooper O'Neil (Millbury, Mass.) made his 8k debut after he took a spot within the top-100 in a time of 27:00.32.
• Sophomore Luke Cloutier (Waterboro, Maine) finalized the score for the Panthers as their fifth runner with a career-best time of 27:10.73.
• Sophomore Dan Daschbach-Eaton (Exeter, N.H.) hit a career-best time in 27:22.99, while junior Dylan Flewelling (Oakland, Maine) and graduate student Colin Moar (Annandale, Va.) closed out PSU's top-eight and hit the sub-28-minute mark.
• Junior Connor Wilcox (Colchester, Conn.) and sophomore Jackson Diglio (Goshen, N.Y.) helped represent the Panthers in the junior varsity race with top-40 finishes in under 28 minutes.

 
Up Next:

• Plymouth State is off next weekend before heading to Keene State for the Keene State Invitational on Sept. 30. The starting gun is set for 11:00 a.m.