(Sept. 8, 2007 - Northville, Mich.) -- Transfer Zakary Noles made his Concordia debut as the Cardinal cross country team participated in the season opening Detroit-Mercy Titan Invitational Saturday morning in Northville. Noles (So. - Pinckney, Mich.) finished at 22:03 finishing in 20th place, a mere two seconds away from 19th. All told, the Cardinals finished ninth out of nine teams that fielded enough runners to compete for the team title, which was won by the Alumni Team from Wayne State University and three-time Titan Invitational Champ Nick Allen.

 

While Noles had an impressive debut, the rest of the squad struggled in the first race of the season with Tyler Case (Fr. - Cedar Springs, Mich.) finishing 68th with a time of 24:54, Mike Haiderer (Jr. - Saginaw, Mich.) crossed at 25:42 to finish 72nd, Steven Schmit (So. - Canton, Mich.) was the 75th runner to cross at a time of 26:56, Sam Bruer (78th - 27:20) and John Alderson (87th) finishing out the pack.

 

Of importance were the times of Haiderer and Schmit, who both posted finishes that were just seconds away from personal bests as a Cardinal runner, which shows that continued improvement can be expected as the learn and grow under the leadership of new head coach Kathy Rounds.

 

The runners will have a few days off before heading to Mid-Michigan for the annual Spartan Invitational hosted by Rounds former school, Michigan State University, this Friday.