The Aurora University Spartan men's cross country team finished 4th out of 17 teams at the 2012 Spartan XC Classic at
In a strong team showing, senior Drew Schmitt led the way for the Spartans with his 10th place finish in 26:15.5.  Freshman Nate Rehkopf finished 34th (27:10.6), freshman Alex Mertes finished 36th (27:12.1), freshman Grady Schroeder was 38th (27:14.4), sophomore Nick Cole was 39th (27:16.2) and junior Jordan Tripp was 41st (27:29.0) rounded out the Spartans finishing in the top 50.

Freshman Calvin Robinson finished 56th (27:53.1), junior Pete Jaros was 67th (28:03.6), sophomore Brandon Miller was 70th (28:12.8), freshman Nick Quiroz was 73rd (28:25.9), junior Sean Leaf was 75th (28:31.1), freshman Kevin Crozier was 84th (28:42.5), sophomore Roberto Gonzalez was 90th (28:52.7), junior Kyle Kayzar was 92nd (28:53.9), sophomore Doug Belling was 98th (28:59.9) and senior Morgan Goetschel was 99th with a 29:01.3.
Other Spartans competing in the race were senior Nico Gonzalez (116th), senior Dale Bolthouse (119th), sophomore Mitch Fox (121st), freshman Aron Nava (129th), freshman Vontrel Hawkins (134th), freshman Michael Miller (140th), junior Kevin Price (151st) and junior Matt Sanders (170th).

A group of Spartan alumni joined in on the day's events and finished 15th. Sidney Gutierrez led the way for the alumni finishing 52nd with a time of 27:49.8. Joining Gutierrez was Tommy Ferguson (144th), Keith Burke (159th), Robert Lopez (163rd) and Jake Schlueter (171st).

Next action for the Spartan men's cross country team comes on Saturday, September 15 when they travel to Concordia University Wisconsin. Meet time is set for 11 a.m. in Mequon, Wis.