The Aurora University men's cross country team kicked off their season on Friday, September 4 at the Elmhurst College Earlybird Invitational. AU finished third out of 14 teams with a score of 85 points. The race was 6000 meters long and consisted of three 2000 meter loops.

Senior Calvin Robinson was the top finisher for the Spartans placing 14^th in the meet and breaking AU's 6000 meter record with a time of 20:01. The Spartan men's top 7 had an impressive spread of 14 places and 40 seconds between the 1 and 7 men.

The rest of the top 7's men's times and places were as follows. Jimmy Baeskins (20^th-20:12), Alex Duncan (22^nd-20:19), Tj Pitcock (25^th-20:34), Christian Barajas (26^th-20:36), Nick Shaw (27^th-20:37), and Nick Quiroz (28^th-20:41).

The rest of the Spartan men's times and places were as follows. Anthony Barrios (32^nd-20:51), Ryan Fromm (40^th-21:07), Jordan Sherman (44^th-21:16), Kevin Crozier (46^th-21:19), Adrian Vargas (47^th-21:20), Salvador Lazaro (56^th-21:37), Edward Chanon (57^th-21:39), Matt Bush (58^th- 21:42), Christian Castro (63^rd-21:51), Arian Anderson (75^th-22:08), Miki Marin (78^th-22:24), Anthony Partida (88^th-22:39), Bruce McCaffery (95^th-22:48), Rafael Godinez (101^st-23:04), Dan Morgan (104^th-23:15), Cody McDougal (108^th-23:23), Aaron Lehman (120^th-24:40), Luke Miller (124^th-24:55), Jon Eastwood (126^th-25:38), Fernando Miranda (143^rd-26:26), and Luis Salgado (137^th-31:04).

Next action for the Spartan men comes on Friday, September 11 when they host the AU Spartan Cross Country Classic. Meet time is set for 5:45 p.m. at Oakhurst Forest Preserve in Aurora, Illinois.