WILMORE, Ky. – As the great philosopher DJ Khaled once said … "Another one"! Five runners placed inside the top eight to lead Macomb men's cross country to its second team victory of the season on Saturday (Oct. 12) at Asbury University's Justin Spoon Fiercely Faithful Meet. Behind a stellar all-around performance, the Monarchs finished with a first place team score of 25, ahead of the host and second place Eagles (40) and third place Midway (80).
Impressively, the second championship effort of the season came against a field of NCAA D2, D3 and NAIA competition. The Monarchs were the lone community college team in Saturday's race.
Dylan Penberthy (New Haven, Mich./L'Anse Creuse North) led the championship pace with a third place 8K time of 28:39, four seconds ahead of teammate
Jack DeWaele (Clinton Twp., Mich./Chippewa Valley) who finished fourth overall at 28:43.
Brandon Penberthy (New Haven, Mich./L'Anse Creuse North) was next, leading back-to-back-to-back Monarchs to cross the finish line with a sixth place time of 29:06. Seventh place went to
Gabe Rusch (New Baltimore, Mich./Anchor Bay) who checked in at 29:10, while
Carson Gilbertson (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) finished eighth overall at 29:14.
Following the five scoring Monarchs in the top eight was
Mathieu Fortier (Clinton Twp., Mich./Lakeview) in 23
rd place with a time of 30:58.
Lucas Shemansky (Fraser, Mich./Fraser) and
Daryl Winters III (Detroit, Mich./Warren Mott) were next in 25
th and 26
th place, respectively, and
Preston Corneillie (Richmond, Mich./Richmond) checked in 39
th overall. Shemansky finished the 8K race with a time of 31:21, followed by Winters III at 31:28 and Corneillie at 33:15.
"Great effort overall by the team on a challenging course," said third-year head coach
Matt Fecht after the race. "Like the women's team, we came in banged up and there was a mixed bag of times as a result. I'm proud of the effort and win, and excited about the position we are in heading into the region championship in two weeks."
The Monarchs return to action Oct. 25 at nearby Goodells County Park when they compete in the 2024 MCCAA/Region 12 Championship.
