SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The IUPUI men's cross country team put up an impressive effort in the Gold Race of Notre Dame's Joe Piane Invitational on Friday (Sept. 29), finishing second to only the host Irish in the 5-mile race. Notre Dame closed with 83 points, holding off the hard charging Jaguars, who finished second with 89 points, well ahead of third-place Michigan and fourth-place Loyola Marymount. 

Senior Nick Perkins led the way at 24:41.9, placing 13th among the 131 runner field. Behind him, Andrew Whitinger was 14th at 24:42.2 and Grant Moon finished 19th at 24:48.3. IUPUI's depth was on full display on Friday as Eric Petersen crossed in 21st at 24:56.4 and Will Clark finished at 24:57.4 in 22nd place. 

Redshirt freshman Deion Guise wasn't far behind at 25:02.9 and veteran Mitchell Rans finished at 25:05.9 as both were among the race's top-40. The Jaguars earned a second-place finish despite top runner Nate Kaiser and key contributor Mitchell Gits being held out for precautionary reasons. 

"It was a perfect course and perfect conditions," Perkins said. "We said we were going to run through people and we did. We were over 100 points behind first-place through the mile and finished only six points behind at the end, which got us second. We were missing a few guys today, but ran intelligently and as a team, which is very exciting going into the end of the season."

IUPUI's primary pack of Whitinger, Moon and Petersen started methodically behind a fleet of runners from Notre Dame, Michigan and High Point before traversing through the field near the midpoint of the race. From there, the Jaguars' pack and depth made an impact as the group hung in their positions to the final line. Perkins made a huge final surge, picking off a cast of runners over the final 1,000 meters, including Moon and Whitinger, to collect a 13th-place finish. 

Matt Mitsch (25:13.3) and Jack Acton (25:20.8) rounded out the Jaguars' Gold Race entries while Wilson Whicker paced the four entries in the Open Race with a time of 25:54.0. 

Vincent Mauri keyed Notre Dame's winning efforts with an individual victory in a time of 24:10.7 and Michigan's Owen MacKenzie was second at 24:13.7. 

IUPUI will return to action on Friday, Oct. 13 when the Jaguars compete in the Bradley 'Pink' Classic in Peoria, Ill.