X-Men place 7th overall at Western meet

Five members of the STFX X-Men Cross Country team competed at the 47th annual Vigars & Salter Western Invitational Saturday at Thames Valley.

September 24, 2022

London, ON – Five members of the STFX X-Men Cross Country team competed at the 47^th annual Vigars & Salter Western Invitational Saturday at Thames Valley.

The X-Men squad placed seventh overall out of 14 teams at the meet, compiling 203 points. The McMaster Marauders won the meet with 47 points, followed by the host Western Mustangs with 69 and the Dalhousie Tigers with 87 in third place.

X-Men head coach Eric Gillis noted, "We had a team goal of top seven heading into the meet, so achieving that today feels good."

"We have work to do to compete with the top five teams," he continued. "We're excited to get back to work on that, the X-Men are working hard this year."

Jacob Benoit was the top STFX finisher, coming in seventh place overall with a time of 25.19 in the 8 km race that featured 135 competitors.

Ben Good was 49^th overall with a time of 26:46, followed by X-Men teammates Liam McCullagh (57^th, 27:00), Luc Gallant (79^th, 27:38) and Jack O'Connell (86^th, 27:51).

Western's Jeremy Coughler was the overall race winnner with a time of 24:30. He was followed closely by his teammate Connor Black (24:32) in second place, and McMaster's Max Turek (24:34) in third.

Next on the schedule for the X-Men will be the October 1^st meet in Moncton, NB.

Members of the STFX X-Women team will compete at the Lehigh Invitational Meet in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on September 30^th.

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Courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information

Top ten runners at the 2022 Western Invitational including STFX's Jacob Benoit (7th place) - 4th from right