The Francis Marion University men's and women's cross country teams placed first and second respectively at the FMU Invitational Meet, held Friday evening (Sept. 14) at the Freedom Florence Recreational Complex.

Senior Ian Wallace led the Patriot Men to a 15-50 win over Paine College as the Fort Mill native finished first with a time of 16:44 over the 5,000-meter course.

Spurred on by a Sea of Red crowd at the Patriots' lone home meet of the year, Francis Marion registered the top seven finishers and eight of the first nine.  Freshman Guy McCarter followed Wallace with a time of 17:38.  FMU sophomore Justin Carter was third (18:10), followed by sophomore Justin Koehn in fourth (18:39), freshman Connor McGraw in fifth (19:25), sophomore Alex McIntosh in sixth (19:35), junior Braylin Bloise in seventh (20:03), and junior Michael Bigelow in ninth (20:28).

Junior Whitney Wagner's second-place finish helped lead FMU to a second-place team showing behind USC Aiken.  USCA finished with a 30 score, while FMU stood at 39 and Paine at 59.

Wagner toured he 5,000-meter course in 20:55.  FMU freshman Hannah Muzzillo placed third with a time of 21:37.  Muzzillo shaved nearly three minutes off her time from her first collegiate meet two weeks ago.

Junior London Barnhill set a personal-best time of 23:07 as she placed ninth.  Other FMU finishers were freshman Dani Velasquez in 11th (23:49), freshman Kateland Todd in 14th (24:57), and sophomore Kasey Bradley in 16th (26:15).

USCA's Keely Gillespie won the women's race, finishing 12 seconds head of Wagner in 20:43.

Both Francis Marion teams will compete in the Columbia International University Invitational Meet on Sept. 22.