BETHLEHEM, PA – Competing in the 46-team, Division I-heavy Gold Race at the 48^th annual Paul Short Run at Lehigh University on Friday morning, the sixth-ranked Johns Hopkins men's cross country team placed 26^th overall with 777 points.  One of just three Division III teams in the Gold Race, the Blue Jays placed all five of their scoring runners in the top 195 finishers in the 416-person field.
 
Junior Gavin McElhennon was the top Blue Jay finisher as he crossed the line in 24:09.9 to place 107^th among scoring runners and 113^th overall.  McElhennon came on strong over the final 3k as he was in 135^th place among scoring runners at the 5K mark, but jumped 22 spots down the stretch to lead the way for the Blue Jays.
 
Senior Matthew Kleiman was just behind McElhennon as he placed 113^th among scorers with a time of 24:13.1.  He also closed strong, rising 23 places over the final 3k to come in second among Blue Jay finishers.

The tightly-packed trio of Charlie Teeter (177^th / 24:39.1), Daniel Chen (189^th / 24:43.9) and Emmanuel Leblond (191^st / 24:44.4) closed out Hopkins' top five and the scoring runners for the Blue Jays.  All three rose at least 14 spots down the stretch to help the Blue Jays secure their 26^th-place finish.
 
North Carolina won the team title with 64 points as the Tar Heels grabbed the top two individual finishers.  Villanova (100 points), Utah State (105), Georgetown (105) and Duke (138) rounded out the top five.  Among Division III schools, the Blue Jays were second of the three with 10th-ranked RPI edging the Blue Jays (744 points) to finish 25^th, while seventh-ranked John Carroll placed 29^th (820 pts.).
 
Notably, the Blue Jays finished ahead of William & Mary, Columbia, George Washington, Lehigh and Rutgers.
 
Johns Hopkins will return to action on October 15 when the Blue Jays split their squad and compete at both Virginia's Panorama Farms Invitational and the Rowan Border Battle.