Logan Twp., N.J. – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's cross country team tallied 234 points en route to a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Metro Regional Championships on Saturday morning.
 
TCNJ won the event with 56 points, followed by Swarthmore (76), Moravian (81), Haverford (84), and Rowan (179) to complete the top five. Brandon Chen claimed the individual title in 24:25.3. Stevens tied DeSales for sixth with 234 points to lead all Middle Atlantic Conference programs and improved two spots from last season's ninth-place finish at the same meet.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Mick Barbi paced the Ducks with a 28th-place time of 25:50. He came through the first mile in 5:03.1 and missed a top-25 finish by just under three seconds. Jacob Nolan was close behind in 33rd, crossing in 25:54.7. Nolan got out quickly, hitting the opening mile in 5:01.5, the fastest first-mile split on the team.
 
Ryan Paradine placed 43rd with a time of 26:19.4. He was edged out of 42nd by just 0.3 seconds and held off Bryce Phillips of DeSales by one second. Joseph Ruben finished 61st in 26:44.5, while Danny Jutras ran 26:53.2 for 69th. Max Thorn (27:10.7) and Caleb Stephen (27:23.4) also competed for Stevens. 
 
INSIDE THE MEET

• The sixth-place finish was the highest finish by the Ducks since joining the Metro Regionl; their previous best was a seventh-place mark in 2021.
• Ruben and Jutras helped the Ducks edge out DeSales on tiebreakers, as they caught DeSales runners near the finish line to finish head. Jutras turned it on the end, out-finishing his Bulldog counterpart by over eight seconds.
• Barbi's 8K time was a personal best for the senior and marked the first time he finished under 26 minutes.
• Nolan also broke 26 minutes for the first time; his previous PR was 26:20.6, set on September 27 at the Lock Haven Open.
• Paradine, Ruben, and Thorn each recorded 8K PRs, with Paradine improving his best time by just over 26 seconds.