Geneva, Ill. – The Wheaton cross country teams returned to action on Saturday at the Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course to participate in the Aurora University Cross Country Invitational. The Wheaton men's team placed fifth in the 15-team field.

Central College (Iowa) finished first in the men's team standings with 21 points, followed by Simpson College in second place with 55 points. UChicago scored 84 points in third place, MSOE was fourth with 138 points and Wheaton placed fifth with 177 points. Greenville was sixth with 181 points, Nebraska Wesleyan placed seventh with 190 points, Grinnell scored 208 points in eighth place, Illinois Wesleyan finished ninth with 273 points and Aurora rounded out the top-10 with 281 points.

Simpson's Spencer Moon finished first with a time of 24:59.1 on the 8K course. Cronin Kenny of Central posted a time of 26:04.4 in second place and his Central teammate Noah Jorgenson was third with a time of 26:07.6.

Sophomore Sam Elsen was the top runner for the Thunder men as he finished 12^th in the 212-man field with a time of 26:38.7. Senior Ryan Cross posted a time of 27:15.7 in 26^th place for the Thunder, and junior Nathan Gibson was 37^th with a time of 27:35.6. Senior John McCloskey was 57^th with a time of 28:12.5 and junior Sam Carlson posted a time of 28:15.2 in 60^th place. Junior Jacob Fopma was 64^th in 28:19.5 and sophomore Luke Bothun was 65^th in 28:22.0. Junior John Logan posted a time of 28:26.4 in 67^th place.

Wheaton returns to action on October 15 with a trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin and the UW-La Crosse Jim Drews/Tori Neubauer Invitational.