NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The No. 22-ranked St. Olaf College men's cross country team placed second of 18 teams at the St. Olaf Invitational on Saturday morning at a soggy St. Olaf Cross Country Course.

Junior Garrett Seppanen placed eighth overall and was the top NCAA Division III finisher in the field of 258 runners to lead St. Olaf to second behind NCAA Division I South Dakota State University. The Oles finished with 94 points, 70 behind the Jackrabbits and 35 ahead of UW-River Falls.

The race was run on a course that received over two inches of rain starting on Friday morning and running into the start of the men's race. In the wet conditions, Seppanen easily surpassed his previous 8K collegiate-best time of 26:33.4 by clocking in at 25:47.3 to trail only four NCAA Division I runners, two NCAA Division II runners, and one unattached runner in the field.

Senior Quinn McCabe and sophomore Connor Hitchcock both clocked in at 26:05.8 to finish 19th and 20th, respectively, with McCabe's time being a PR of over 30 seconds. Junior Corbin Hobert was just behind them in 21st (26:07.2) as St. Olaf's No. 4 scorer, while senior Lex Kaye also recorded an over 30-second PR in 34th (26:24.8).

Senior Alex Bjork and first years Lev Dougherty and Owen Riter were also in the top 50 overall for the Oles.

St. Olaf will run at the Running of the Cows at Carleton College's Bill Huyck Championship Course on Saturday, Oct. 3. There will be two race divisions at the pre-nationals race: the Navy Championship Division at 12 p.m. and the Maize Division at 1 p.m.