WATERFORD, Conn. – The No. 10-ranked St. Olaf College men's cross country team used three top-15 performances to claim the team title at the Connecticut College Invitational on Saturday at Harkness Park.

Senior Will Kelly led the three top-15 finishes for St. Olaf by posting a runner-up result and was joined in the top 15 by junior Andrew Skemp and sophomore Kevin Turlington. As a team, the Oles compiled 69 points from their top five to edge No. 27-ranked Tufts University by six points in the field of 26 teams that included nine nationally-ranked teams.

Kelly made it four top-three finishes in as many races this fall by placing second out of 199 runners with a time of 24:17.6, trailing only Caleb Silver of Central College's time of 24:13.40. Kelly's time was a new personal-best 8K time for the senior, surpassing his time of 24:24.9 from the same meet last season, and was the fastest time by a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) student-athlete in the meet's history.

The personal-best time for Kelly was one of nine on the day for St. Olaf among its 10 runners in the meet. Skemp shaved 10 seconds off his previous 8K PR by placing 11th in 24:49.0, while Turlington knocked nearly 40 seconds off of his with a 13th-place performance in 24:49.6.

The Oles had all of their top-five finishers in the top 25 overall, as senior David Lynn and junior Sean Hartney crossed the line in 21st and 22nd with times of 24:47.3 and 25:00.2, respectively. Lynn and Hartney's times both eclipsed their previous PRs by over 30 seconds.

The PRs for St. Olaf's top five all moved each of the quintet up St. Olaf's all-time 8K list. Kelly moved up two spots from sixth to fourth, Skemp rose five spots from 17th to 12th, Turlington jumped up 25 spots from 38th to 13th, Lynn surged up 18 spots from 37th to 19th, and Hartney moved up 20 spots from 41st to 21st.

While the team's top-10 runners were in Connecticut, the rest of St. Olaf's team ran at the Jim Drews Invite at Maple Grove Venues, LLC in West Salem, Wis., placing fifth in the field of 27 teams. Sophomore Gael Manzur Strandlund was the first Ole to cross the line, doing so in 21st with a time of 25:54.6.

The Oles have two weeks to prepare for the MIAC Championships, hosted by Carleton College on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 11 a.m.