KEENE, N.H. – Graduate student Mike Olson (Sutton, Mass.) continued his dominance with his first individual victory of the season to pace the Plymouth State University men's cross country team to its first win of the season at the Keene State Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
 
Olson laid down another impressive performance to blow away a field of 230 runners with a time of 25:04.10 and finishing ahead of the next best competitor by roughly 30 seconds. It marked the third time in as many races in which Olson took a top-ten finish.
 
The Panthers took first as a team and finished well ahead of the next best Little East Conference (LEC) team in UMass Dartmouth, which finished fourth. PSU now has top-ten team finishes in its last three meets.
 
The Basics:

• Keene State Invitational – 1st of 21 Teams

Notable Team Scores:

• Plymouth State (1st – 59), Assumption (2nd – 68), Brandeis (3rd – 98), UMass Dartmouth (4th – 126), Eastern Connecticut (6th – 198), Keene State (12th – 302), Rhode Island College (16th – 452), Castleton (17th – 524), UMass Boston (18th – 531)

How it Happened:

• Olson topped the field in a time of 25:04.10, while junior Jacob Gallaher (Gambrills, Md.) took seventh in 25:57.80, just three seconds shy of his career best.
• Senior Michael Barrett (Hartford, Conn.) crossed the line in 12th overall in a time of 26:16.90.
• The trio of freshman Cooper O'Neil (Millbury, Mass.) and juniors Connor Wilcox (Colchester, Conn.) and Dylan Flewelling (Oakland, Maine) packed up to sweep 19th through 21st with all three running season best times.
• Graduate student Colin Moar (Annandale, Va.) and sophomore Luke Cloutier (Waterboro, Maine) closed out PSU's top eight with times of 27:04.20 and 27:14.10, respectively.

 
Up Next:

• Plymouth State heads to Westfield, Mass. for the James Earley Invitational next Saturday (Oct. 7). The men's 8k race kicks off at noon.