Bethlehem, Pa. – Senior Urgy Eado (Rockville, Md.) broke into the top 100 and led UMBC across the finish line in the 44th annual Paul Short Run, held on the campus of Lehigh University.
Eado placed 97th overall out of a field of 359 finishers, breaking the tape in a time of 24:59. The senior placed 108th a year ago on the same 8k trek, coming in at 24:58.
Sophomore Elijah Hawkins (Cockeysville, Md./Dulaney) bested Eado's time from last year by one second (24:58) and placed 121st overall. Hawkins did not compete at Lehigh a year ago and his best previous UMBC finish was as the Retrievers' fifth-best finisher in the most recent meet at Navy.
Junior Nathan Nadal (Silver Spring, Md.) and senior Rhys Burgett (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) also cracked the top 200 in the meet. Nadal placed 158th in a time of 25:12, while Burgett crossed in 25:28, good for 197th position.
UMBC's total time of 2:06.16 was over two minutes faster than last year's mark of 2:08.31. The Retrievers placed 31st of the 40 competing men's squads in the top collegiate division.
Utah State won the meet and the Aggies' top runner, Dillon Maggard, earned medalist honors in a a time of 23:27.
The Retrievers' next action comes up on Oct. 14, when they take part in the Princeton Invitational.
