WATERFORD, Conn. – Senior Kevin Turlington placed third to lead the No. 22-ranked St. Olaf College men's cross country team to a ninth-place finish at the Connecticut College Invitational on Saturday at Harkness Memorial State Park.

Turlington finished third in a personal-best time 24:07.49, which moved him up to third on St. Olaf's all-time 8K performers' list, to lead the way for the Oles in a field that included 12 nationally-ranked teams in interregional competition. St. Olaf accumulated 300 points in the team standings to finish 14 behind 12th-ranked Amherst College and five ahead of No. 19-ranked Lynchburg University.

The Oles finished ahead of two teams ranked above them and behind two teams ranked behind them in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll. The field included six of the top-10 teams in the most recent national rankings.

Turlington's time of 24:07.49 put him behind only Emmanuel Leblond of Johns Hopkins University (23:41.94) and Ryan Hagan of SUNY Geneseo (23:53.67) in the field of over 250 runners. The senior's time was a 14-second PR, surpassing his previous top eight-kilometer time of 24:21.9 set in his seventh-place performance at the same meet last year.

Senior Jack Deaver turned in St. Olaf's second-best result of the day by placing 38th in a personal-best time of 24:49.34, which moved him up to 15th on the Oles' all-time list. Senior Gael Manzur Strandlund placed 74th (25:12.39), followed by junior Alex Bjork in 91st (25:26.12), and senior Eli Doran in 102nd (25:40.11) to round out the Oles' five scorers. Bjork and Doran's times were also the fastest 8K times of their collegiate careers.

While St. Olaf's top group of runners competed in Connecticut, the rest of the team ran at home at the Haunted Hustle on the Hill, which the Oles won with a team score of 27 points. Sophomore Cooper Gunderson was St. Olaf's top finisher in fifth (26:11.4), followed by sophomore Garrett Seppanen in sixth (26:33.4), senior Jonathan Pattie in seventh (26:48.8), junior Lex Kaye in ninth (26:57.3), and sophomore Andrew Crisp in 10th (26:59.4).

St. Olaf will be back in action at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Championships on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. at Highland Golf Course in St. Paul, as the Oles go in search of their fourth consecutive conference title.