November 6, 2005 - DADE CITY, FLA – The Francis Marion University men's cross country squad placed 18th at the NCAA Division II South Region Championship Meet, Saturday (Nov. 5) at Little Everglades Ranch in Dade City, Fla.  FMU women's runner Kelly May concluded her successful freshman campaign with a strong showing.

Junior Patrick Hopewell led the Patriot men with an 85th-place finish, as he completed the 10,000-meter course in 39:03.  Other FMU finishers were freshman Steve Holmes in 87th place (39:17), senior Steven Creek in 100th (40:35), Ariel Ortiz in 105th (41:20), Joshua Sears in 111th (42:00), and Dan Brann in 116th (43:19).

Hopewell was FMU's top finisher in six of seven meets this year.

May finished 48th in the 6,000-meter women's race with a time of 24:56.  Other Patriot runners included Codi Knoch in 89th position (26:31), Megan Coy in 128th (29:11), and Sara Parry in 147th (37:56).  Because the team only had four finishers, FMU did not register a team score.

Harding University won both the men's and women's region team titles.