COLUMBIA, SC – The Francis Marion University men’s and women’s cross country teams both placed third in the Division II portion of the Gamecock Invitational Meet on Friday (Aug. 31).

Junior Steven Holmes paced the FMU men as he finished fourth with a time of 16:59.01 over the 5,000-meter course. Patriot freshman Ben Miller was seventh (17:19.42), followed by Dan Brann (17:23.62) in 10th, Jerry Roth (17:25.53) in 11th, Caleb Welch (18:36.91) in 17th, Ariel Ortiz (19:18.93) in 20th, and Chris Rice (20:26.97) in 25th.

The Patriot women were led by senior Codi Knoch with a fourth-place finish. She completed the 5,000-meter course in 21:16.99. Other Patriot runners were sophomore Amanda Doyle (22:14.73) in 14th position, Kimberly Richardson (23:40.47) in 21st, Emma Dooley (23:49.21) in 22nd, and Holly Todd (23:52.96) in 23rd.

Both Patriot squads will compete in the UNC Pembroke Invitational Meet on Saturday morning in Lumberton, N.C.