AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University cross country teams ran on their home course on Saturday morning, competing in the Ave Maria Invitational at North Park. Both Gyrene teams placed second in a field of nine teams, which also served as a preview of The Sun Conference Championships, which will be held on the same course.

The AMU men placed four runners in the top 16 to power the team's runner-up finish. For the second week in a row, Joseph Perreault led the way, as the freshman crossed the finish line in 27:07.2. His time, a personal record at AMU, marked the second fastest time in school history by a runner not named Gabriel Hogan and was good enough for sixth. 

DJ Mason (27:27.2) and Adam Paga (27:30.6) followed in 12th and 13th place, respectively, while Jonathan Kohr rounded out the quartet with a 16th place time of 27:48.7. Each of the top four finishers posted their fastest collegiate time. Erik Minter rounded out Ave Maria's team score of 65 points by crossing the finish line in 29:05.2.

Five of the top eleven runners in the race came from Southeastern, giving the Fire a commanding edge in the team title race. The Fire were led by individual runner-up John Perez-Dunn. Unattached runner Antoine Gbadoe was the individual champion, beating Perez-Dunn to the finish line by 1.7 seconds with a 26:09.30 time.

Mary Goetz was once again Ave Maria's top female finisher, running the 5k course in 19:27.6. The junior was one of only five runners - and the only one from a school other than Southeastern - to finish in under 20 minutes. Goetz was not the only top ten finisher for AMU, as freshman Anna Morris collected eighth place with a time of 20:27.2.

Three more Gyrenes finished within 17 seconds of one another to round out the team score. Marianna Orth crossed the finish line at 21:50.0, while Peyton Brugger finished in the top half of the field at 21:56.6. The final of AMU's top five finishers was Bernadette Glasgow, who completed Ave Maria's 5k course in 22:06.6.'

Led by the top three finishers and five of the top six, Southeastern rolled to the team title. The Gyrenes held on to second by one point over USC Beaufort, who was led by seventh-place finisher Alexa Lashley. Southeastern's Julia Rohm, who has been the top Sun Conference finisher in all of her races this season, placed first by over 40 seconds at 18:32.90.

The Gyrenes will compete one more time before returning home in five weeks time for the conference championships. Ave Maria will head to the Southern States Cross Country Challenge, hosted on the notoriously fast course at USC Beaufort. The final regular season meet is scheduled for October 24 in Hardeeville, South Carolina.