The #25 Middlebury men's cross country team took home first place at the Silloway Maple Syrup Challenge, scoring 22 points. Six Panthers finished in the top-10 spots, with Benjamin Hughes breaking the tape first. Fitchburg State grabbed the runner-up spot with 71 points, while Norwich closed out the team podium with 84 points.
 
COURSE INFORMATION

• Location: Randolph, Vt.
• Host School: Vermont State University Randolph
• Distance: 8 kilometers (8K)
• Weather: rainy, 60s
• Place: 1st of 8

HIGHLIGHTS

• Hughes finished in first place out of 86 runners with a time of 27:26:38.
• Ethan Sholk claimed third place in his initial collegiate competition, stopping the clock at 27:40.32. 
• Teammate Zach Utz paced a quartet of Panthers across the line in fifth at 28:11.94. Owen Johnson (28:11.98), Ian Larkin (28:12.04) and Sullivan Dunn (28:12.12) earned sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively. 
• Liam Edson narrowly missed a top-10 result, posting an 11th-place clocking of 28:19.48 to round out the scorers for Middlebury.

NOTES

• Hughes' victory is the third in his collegiate career.
• Today's triumph marks the ninth-consecutive season that the Panthers have won the Maple Syrup Team Challenge.

Middlebury returns to the course next weekend at its annual Aldrich Invitational on Saturday at 10:00 am.