Cole Stanchina was the top collegiate finisher as the Chestnut Hill College Men's Cross Country team competed at the Jack St. Clair Invitational at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia Saturday afternoon.

One of three Griffin runners to finish the 8,000-meter race, Stanchina crossed the line in 27:30.9 to place third overall.   The top two finishers were affiliated with area running clubs that were also competing in the race among the college teams.

Jefferson's Mason Moore was the second collegiate runner to finisher, with a time of 28:54.35, 1:23 (83 seconds or close to 400 meters) behind Stanchina and ninth place overall.

Stanchina's time of 27:30.98 was also 22 seconds faster than his winning performance at the Philadelphia Metro meet also held at Belmont plateau a month ago.  He was 22 seconds behind the overall winner Milan Duka, who was a former six-time Serbian national champion and ran for Jefferson University his graduate year of college in 2017.

Jason Fisher was the Griffins' next finisher with a time of 30:04.6, placing 22^nd overall.  Ryan O'Hara made his collegiate debut and finished in 36:35.4 to round out the Griffins three finishers.

The Chestnut Hill College Men's Cross Country team returns to action on Wednesday, October 11, 2023 when they will compete at the Cairn University meet in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.  The men's race begins at 4:00 p.m.