LAKELAND, Fla. – Saint Leo men's cross country ran away with first place at the FLRunners.com Invitational at Holloway Park in Lakeland Friday night. The Lions took first overall out of the nine teams with 28 points behind Pierre Galbourdin's second place finish.
 
The Green and Gold, who set a plan to run together, saw Galbourdin inside the top-5 pack through the first 5K before sprinting to the finish line for second place. Galbourdin led the Lions with a time of 27:36.1.
 
Tadgh McGinty broke away from his group and came across the line in seventh place at 28:01.3, ahead of teammates Shawn Bell, 11^th at 28:14.9, and Blake Watson and Felix Nadeborn in 13^th and 14^th, respectively at 28.20.0.
 
Fabio Fornarello, Shane Bracken and Malachi Simpson all finished inside the top-25 of the 102 runners that crossed the finish line. Fornarello took 20^th at 28:37.8, just ahead of Bracken at 28:38.1. Simpson finished in a time of 28:39.5.
 
In all the Lions beat Sunshine State Conference foes Nova Southeastern (fourth place), Florida Southern (sixth place), and Lynn (eighth place).
 
Saint Leo will run next on Oct. 11 in Charlotte, N.C. at the Queens City Invite.  

For the latest news, updates, and information on Saint Leo men's and women's cross country and track sure to visit SaintLeoLions.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.