MORAGA, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Men's Cross Country team is set to take on their third race of the season at Pacific Invitational on Friday, October 3rd, as they continue to inch their way towards the WCC Championships in just a little over a month. 

In their last outing at the Kim Duyst Invitational the Gaels finished 4th out of a field of 17 teams. It was Zane Jackson who led the way for Saint Mary's on the course in Ceres. The Charleston, South Carolina native finished 6th overall in a field of 214 runners and earned his personal best time in the 8k clocking in at 23:36.7. In his debut as a Gael, Oisin Spillane earned his personal best time of 24:10.3 to finish 12th overall. Following him was transfer Divan Du Plooy who also made his debut as a Gael and finished with a time 24:10.3 in 14th place. Rounding off the scoring for the Gaels was Jacob Moffett who finished 20th recording a time of 24:25.1 and Aidan Doherty who completed the race in 25:05.4. 

Running on Friday in Lodi is a smaller group of Gaels. Representing Saint Mary's will be juniors Moss Michelsen and Diego Urdiales, joined by sophomore Andrew Perez, and freshmen Luke Davis, Jacob Schuetze, Anthony Sharp, Nick Shoemaker, and Jackson Woolf. Of this group, Andrew Perez has the fastest 8K time, clocking in at 25:59.1 two weeks ago at the Kim Duyst. 

The Gaels have raced at the Pacific Invitational in each of the past four seasons. Their best performance in Lodi was just last season when they finished first overall in a field of seven teams, paced by Zane Jackson, who won the race individually as well. Diego Uridales will be the only runner from last year's stellar team performance running in this year's race, after he earned a spot in the top 50 runners a year ago.  

The Pacific Invitational will take place at the Micke Grove Golf Course in Lodi. The men will compete in the 8k beginning at 5:30 PM. The race will consist of four 2k loops, mostly on flat Bermuda grass with occasional golf cart path crossings. 

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