SOUTH BEND, Ind.--The Bellarmine University men's cross country team proved why it was picked 16th in the country in the preseason poll by performing well at the National Catholic Cross Country Invitational hosted by Notre Dame earlier today.  The Knights were the top non-Division I school and finished fourth in the national field of 31 teams.

Bellarmine was led by Jordan Parayil, who clocked a time of 25:09 over the eight kilometer course to finish 14th in the field of 255.  Alex Jones was just another three back:  both in position and in time, finishing 17th overall with a time of 25:12.

Among non-Division I competition, the Knights had the Nos. 2,3, 5 and 6 finishers.  Parayil and Jones finished 2-3, and Robert Sandlin, Jr. (25:26) and Dominic Perronie (25:28) took fifth and sixth.

“Overall, I thought it was just an outstanding performance,” said Director of Track and Cross Country Jim Vargo, pointing out that Sandlin's time was two minutes faster than his time in the same event last year. Vargo added that Perronie's performance was particularly impressive for a freshman.

“Obviously, we had near perfect conditions with overcast skies and temperatures in the 60s and a firm course,” Vargo said, “but I'm still very pleased, and I think we did what we needed to do to keep moving toward competing in the national championship.”

The Knights' closest competition among other NCAA Division II schools was Stonehill College, which was ranked No. 20 in the preseason poll, and finished sixth overall and second to Bellarmine in the non-Division I competition.

Among the Division I teams, only Notre Dame, Marquette and Dayton finished above the Knights, who outpointed other well known DI schools such as Xavier, DePaul and St. Louis.

COMPLETE RESULTS

NON D1 RESULTS