LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall men's cross country team raced to a 16th place finish out of 31 teams at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship on Saturday. The Diplomats scored 436 points as a team.

Alfonso Knoll just missed all-region honors by mere seconds as he took 36th place in a time of 25:48.4. That finish was a personal best placement for the senior during his third regional championship appearance. Noah Hall also improved on his regional placement from a season ago as he claimed the 86th position in the large field, crossing the finish with a time of 26:41.0. Junior Alex Miller also broke the 27-minute mark as his time of 26:56.1 was 98th best on the day for his third consecutive top 100 finish at the regional championship.

Owen McCann and Donnie Jellig each broke 28 minutes during their regional championship races. McCann finished in 27:02.0 during his regional debut, placing 103rd overall. Jellig, a first-year, ran to a 123rd place finish to round out the team's scoring performers with a time of 27:30.1. Two more regional debuts highlighted F&M's sixth and seventh place finishers. Senior Jake Naddelman took 140th at the regional meet (28:08.0), with Aiden Cotter's time of 28:16.1 placing him 143rd to close his rookie season.

With the cross country season coming to a close on Saturday, the Diplomats will now take time to reset and turn their attention to the upcoming indoor track & field season. The season opener for the indoor track & field team is set for Friday, December 8 when F&M hosts the Diplomat Open inside the Alumni Sports & Fitness Center.