Highland graduate Ben Woodward, a junior at Rider, placed 7th Saturday in the Temple Invitational. He was Rider’s first finisher.
Woodard covered the 8,000-meter course at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia in 27:19, finishing just 17 seconds behind overall winner Christian Fitch of Temple.
“Woodward and the young guys really stepped up today,” Rider coach Bob Hamer said on Rider’s web site. “I’m really excited for Ben. He ran a really solid race today and we will work on building on this performance.”
Also racing for Rider were freshman Dakota Oyuela from Burlington Township, who placed 18th in 18:23 in his collegiate debut; Richie Castaneda of Camden Catholic, 21st in 28:35; and sophomore Gobi Thurairajah of Egg Harbor Township, 25th in 29:05.
Temple scored a perfect 15 points and Rider was second with 52 points.
In the women’s race, Sydney Watts of Chestnut Hill College, a freshman from Kingsway, opened her collegiate career by placing 14th in 25:55 over 6,000 meters.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 