SHELBYVILLE, Ind. -- Mount Union's men cross country team placed fifth at the 2021 Great Lakes Cross Country Championships Saturday at Blue River Cross Country Course.

The Purple Raiders were led by junior Jeff Joseph (Beloit / West Branch) and sophomore Vincent Giumenti (Dover) who both earned All-Region honors with top 35 finishes as Joseph finished 7th with a time of 24:48.9 and Giumenti finished 14th with a time of 25:10.5.

Junior Forrest Long (Geneva) placed 36th, senior Alex Bryan (Geneva) finished 46th and senior Hunter Probert (Gnadenhutten / Indian Valley) rounded out the scoring with a 60th place finish.
 
Two other Raiders made up the rest of the team score in sophomores Mason Kutz (Dalton) 76th, and Curtis Joppeck (New London) 102^nd.
 
Mount Union totaled 163 points while John Carroll won the meet with 62 points followed by Otterbein in second with 89 points.
 
Joseph automatically qualified as an individual to the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships next Saturday in Louisville, Ky. as a top 7 athlete. Giumenti and the rest of the Raiders will have to wait till tomorrow afternoon to find out if they receive a bid to the meet.