FREDERICK, Md. – The Franklin & Marshall men's cross country team placed third at the Hood College Invitational on Saturday, capping a very strong regular season. The Diplomats have established themselves as one of the stronger teams in the region and lived up to that billing as only the No. 8 team in the NJCAA rankings and a tough Mary Washington squad posted better scores.

Alex Fillman led Franklin & Marshall with his seventh-place finish coming in a personal-best 8K time. Mike Maglione and Alfonso Knoll were also among the top 20 finishers, with respective 12th and 18th place finishes. Maglione's time was a personal best at this distance.

Connor Ashnault and Ryan Braun rounded out to the F&M scorers on Saturday as they held down the 23rd and 29th positions in the individual standings. Owen McCann and Stephen Finck served as the team's sixth and seventh runners.

A number of Diplomats took to the course at Hood as the team prepares for the postseason. Dan Gaiewski, Sam Eisner, Alex Miller, Charles Reisner, Jack Emrey, Frankie Setlock, and Bennett Wasch also competed for the Diplomats during the team's final meet of the regular season.

With top three team finishes in three of its four events during the regular season, including the team title at the home opener, men's cross country will now focus in on the Centennial Conference Championship at Johns Hopkins on Saturday, October 30. The men's race will get underway at 12 p.m. that day.