The Cal Poly men’s cross country team had a strong showing Saturday at the NCAA Pre-National race with an eighth-place finish at an event hosted by Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind.
The Mustangs placed above five teams ranked ahead of them in the national polls.
Cal Poly entered the race ranked 30th in the nation and was led by junior Phillip Reid’s 33rd-place finish on the 8K course. Reid paced the Mustangs with a time of 24 minutes, 11 seconds.
Redshirt freshman Evan Anderson was the second Mustang to cross the finish line with an overall placing of 42nd. He finished with a time of 24:17.
Sophomore Troy Swier placed 58th with a time of 24:31 while senior Luke Llamas finished with a time of 24:37 in 68th.
Senior Brian Baker rounded out the scoring runners for Cal Poly with a 90th-place finish and a time of 24:48.
Also competing for the Mustangs was senior Jameson Mora (103rd) with a time of 24:52 while freshman Leif Anderson (143rd) finished with a time of 25:10.
Josh McDougal from Liberty won the race with a time of 23:14 while Iona’s team won, placing five runners in the top 50. Iona entered the race ranked fifth in the nation.
Stanford, ranked third, was second, while Florida finished third (25th).
Cal Poly finished above BYU (ranked ninth), Virginia (16th), Eastern Michigan (28th), William and Mary (19th) and Arizona State (20th).
The Mustangs will return to action Oct. 28 with the long-awaited Big West Conference Championships hosted by Cal Poly at the Fairbanks Memorial Cross Country Course across from Cuesta College.