Woodstown graduate Xavier Seals, a Georgian Court freshman, placed second out of 50 runners Saturday in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Invitational.
In his second college XC race, Seals ran 28:55, finishing behind only Dan Forry of Jefferson College, who ran 28:31 over 8,000 meters at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park.
Seals, a middle-distance runner, is showing great competing at a high level over longer distances. He was the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference champion at both 800 and 1,500 meters last spring, with PRs of 1:55.15 and 4:03.59.
At Woodstown, Seals ran 2:02.51 and 4:27.59. He placed second to Shore Regional’s Drew Maher at the 2018 state Group 1 meet at 1,600 meters at Franklin High School.
In XC, he was the Salem County champ in the fall of 2019 and placed 10th in the state Group 1 meet at Holmdel.
Georgian Court is coached by Cinnaminson native Mike Murawski, a three-time state high jump champion for Holy Cross.