PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – Maine Maritime Academy men's cross country placed four runners inside the top-seven, to claim their fifth-consecutive title at the UMPI Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

Junior Ponce Saltysiak (Bar Harbor, Maine) paced the Mariners in the season debut, finishing first overall on the 6k course with a time of 21:32.76. First-year Joey Valliere (Brunswick, Maine) finished fourth overall in his collegiate debut with a time of 24:59.66.

First-year John Sigler (Newport, R.I.) finished sixth with a time of 27:06.89, while junior Zane Chubet (Plantsville, Conn.) finished just behind teammate Sigler in seventh with a time of 27:18.32. Junior Shail Leszkowicz (Marlton, N.J.) rounded out the top-five finishers for the Mariners with a time of 28:31.39.

Maine Maritime Academy claimed first place overall with a team score of 15 and a total time of 2:09:29.02. Saltysiak was the top medalist while University of Maine at Presque Isle's Stephen Grierson and Westley Dyer finished second and third overall with times of 22:11.08 and 24:16.94 respectively.

Up Next: The Mariners return to action next Saturday, September 9 when they travel to Biddeford, Maine to race in the Ron Ouellette Invitational hosted by the University of New England, set for 11:30am.