Bellarmine University Athletics

SOUTH BEND, Ind.—The Bellarmine men’s and women’s cross country teams had outstanding performances today at the National Catholic Cross Country Invitational held at Notre Dame. The men finished third of 32 teams overall and first among Division II schools, and the women finished sixth overall and also won among Division II schools.

“This is arguably the best combined (cross country) race for Bellarmine ever,” said Head Coach Jim Vargo. 

The men won the Division II portion of the race for the third consecutive year in commanding fashion, eclipsing second place Wheeling Jesuit by 67 points. The Knights were paced by Jordan Parayil and Justin Smith who finished 1-2 in the eight kilometer race among non DI competitors. Parayil clocked a 26:06.1, and Smith was just three-tenths of a second behind.

Bellarmine’sAlex Jones, Guy Vandermosten and Neal Masterson also turned in top 20 performances, finishing 11^th, 13^th and 16^th respectively.

“The performance by our men is probably our best men’s race in 25 years,” Vargo said.

In addition to finishing atop the DII standings, the Knights knocked off some heady Division I competition in the meet. Bellarmine finished just ahead of DePaul, Holy Cross and Detroit Mercy. Meanwhile they were just one point behind Xavier University while the hosts, Notre Dame, won the event handily.

The women had a trio of runners finish in the top 15 of the “college division.” They were led by Carissa Martin, who finished fourth in the five kilometer race with a time of 18:54.4. Meghan Shagena was 12^th and Lindsay Boyce was 14^th as both runners posted times in the 19:20s.

This was the sixth year in a row the Bellarmine women’s team has won the “college division” of the National Catholic Invitational. In the women’s overall race, Notre Dame took home the top prize while Canisius, DePaul, Holy Cross and Xavier rounded out the top five.   


PL*-Place Overall


Complete Results