DELAWARE, Ohio -- The Kenyon College men's cross country team sent six runners to the Ohio Wesleyan Invitational on Friday evening, a eight-team, 95-runner event.

Senior Will Dean paced the Owls, finishing with a time of 29:18.9 and scoring 32 points for Kenyon while finishing 39th overall. It was Dean's best 8k time of the season, clocking in at 45 seconds better than his 30:03.4 time at the All-Ohio Championship on Sept. 16.

Robert Enslein, a first-year, and Alex Shepherd, a sophomore, finished 60th and 62nd with times of 29:32.4 and 29:35.1, respectively, earning a combined 81 points for the Owls (40 and 41). Junior Jack Caine was not far behind, earning 42 points with a 66th-place finish after posting a 29:42.3.

First-years Noah Hopkins and Jimmy Baker rounded out the Kenyon competitors, finishing 78th and 84th, respectively. Hopkins added 46 points to Kenyon's score after posting a time of 31:25.4, bringing the team total to 201. Baker ran a 32:12.2 in his first intercollegiate competition, joining Hopkins in notching their first finishes as Owls.

As a team, Kenyon compiled 201 points and earned an eighth-place finish. Ohio Northern University placed five runners in the top nine to notch a team-best 32 points. Ohio Wesleyan University, the invitational hosts, boasted the top-two individual finishes and slotted into second as a team with 40 points. Benjamin Blaumeiser was the fastest finisher with a time of 26:05.2, while teammate Wes Horton ran a 26:13.7 to finish second. Otterbein University was third with a score of 99. Individually, Donovan Slattery from Capital University finished third at 26:20.3.

It is a quick turnaround for the Owls as the team will compete in the Pre-National Meet less than a day after racing in the OWU Invitational. The competition is set to get underway at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1, in Olivet, Michigan, in what will be a preview of the course used for the NCAA Championship later this fall on Nov. 19 at Olivet College.