Upland, Ind. - Led by a personal best time by Blake Hipkiss, the Marian men's cross country team finished fifth in their season-opening meet at Taylor Unviersity's Ray Bullock Invite. 

The Knights finished fifth out of nine teams with a team score of 127. Grace took the upset of the hosts Taylor with a score of 50, while the Trojans finished second with a score of 58. Goshen placed third overall, with St. Francis (Ill.) taking fourth ahead of the Knights. Spring Arbor, Michigan-Dearborn, Indiana Tech, and St. Francis (Ind.) rounded out the remainder of the field. 

Blake Hipkiss headlined the Knights season debut, finishing fourth in the field of 111 runners with a personal best time of 25:31.9, shaving 3.3 seconds off of his previous best time. Nick Frank was the second Marian finisher with a 26th place finish, crossing the line in 26:33. Clark Chustz finished 30th overall with his time of 26:38, and six seconds later Marian newcomer Tristan Trevino finished 32nd. Adam Heitz rounded out the top-five Marian finishers with his time of 27:00, placing 38th.

Aaron Broderick finished sixth on the Knights roster with his time of 27:07, and Owen Pittman finished the Marian scoring runners with his 48th place performance, hitting a time of 27:21. 

Benjamin Moster, Mitchell Hayward, Robin Aguilar-Gonzalez, and Lucas Stewart were the next four Knights to finish the race, crossing the line within 45 seconds of each other after Moster's 27:36 final split. Alex Cuevas finished in 28:28 as the 12th Knight runner to end the event, and was joined by fellow 29th minute finishers in Drew Holok and Daniel Camacho. 

Everett Carlisle finished 90th overall as the 15th Marian runner to finish, and set up the final four runners with Alex Mundt, Alex Chavarria, Kenneth Hammell, and Trevor May rounding out the Marian lineup. 

Marian will return to race action again on September 30, as the Knights run at the annual Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic. 

MUKnights.com: Your online source for Marian Athletics, tickets, multimedia, Knight merchandise, photos and more.