VANCOUVER, Wash. - University of St. Francis freshman Sean Smith (Winnebago H.S./Winnebago, IL) and junior Michael McElyea (Joliet JC/Illiopolis, IL) placed 140th and 268th, respectively in the NAIA Men's Cross Country Championship meet held Saturday morning at the Fort Vancouver Historical Site.

Smith finished among the top half in the men's field of 323 runners. He covered the 8-kilometer course in a time of 26:50, his slowest of the season but less than one second behind his second-place time at the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship two weeks ago at Dellwood Park in Lockport. The Fort Vancouver course was wet on Saturday, after heavy rain earlier in the week in the Pacific Northwest, and also was made tougher with the presence of numerous hills and sharp turns that were even more difficult than normal to negotiate in such a large field of runners.

McElyea ran his race in a time of 28:27 which was more than a minute slower than his mark of 27:24 at the CCAC race two Saturdays ago. McElyea was competing in his first-ever NAIA Championship meet.