Alex Garcia had the fourth-fastest time by a senior in Reinhardt history as the Eagles men's cross country team finished in 15th place out of 31 schools at the Sand Shark Invitational, hosted by the University of South Carolina Beaufort Saturday morning.

"We had tremendous efforts from everyone that competed today," said RU head coach Jordan Turner. "We had the performances that I was expecting from this group, and we can continue to get better before the conference championship meet."

As a team, the Eagles averaged the second-fastest meet of all-time with a 28:03, just four seconds off the 28:07 the team ran at the Sand Shark Invitational in 2014. In this year's event, Garcia clocked a time of 27:30.24 to finish in 65th place overall. Nicholas Zvirbulis had the seventh-fastest time by a sophomore in the program's history as he came in 73rd overall with a time of 27:38.70. Roger Herrera ran in 28:00.52 to come in 85th, while Justin Pirkle was next for RU with a time of 28:39.02. Alex York was RU's fifth-fastest runner with a time of 28:48.92. For Pirkle and York, the times were the best in their careers over the 8000-meter distance.

Freshman Nate Trottier (29:42.38) and junior Brent Blackwell (29:51.10) also competed for the Eagles, with Blackwell clocking a personal-best time.

The Eagles will be back in action Nov. 7 at the Appalachian Athletic Conference championship meet in Knoxville, Tenn.