(September 13, 2008 - Bowling Green, Ohio) -- With Jim Abrams (Fr. - Monroe, Mich.) leading the way and three runners finishing with their best times of the season, the Concordia men's cross country team picked up an eighth place finish in the NCAA Division II/NAIA grouping at the Mel Brodt Invitational hosted by Bowling Green University. With soggy conditions throughout, the Cardinals finished as the third-best NAIA program lead by Abrams' 66th place finish with a time of 30:29.1.

Randy King of the University of Cincinnati was the overall winner with a time of 25:57.57, while Wayne State's Dan Kapadia crossed first in the DII/NAIA portion of the race with a time of 26:14.70. Finishing less than four seconds behind Kapadia was Alex Russeau of Siena Heights, who finished second overall in the DII/NAIA race (first NAIA runner) at 26:18.00. Abrams was 4:11.1 behind Russeau as the 17th NAIA runner to cross.

After Abrams, Philip Brown (Fr. - St. Joseph, Mich.) finished with a season best 31:38.48 which was good for 73rd overall in the DII/NAIA race, while Steven Lestock (So. - Cumberland, Ohio) returned to the Buckeye State and also had a season best time. His 31:56.45 gave him a 78th place finish.

Ryan Burmeister (Fr. - Muskegon, Mich.) was the fourth Card to finish, as he did so with a time of 32:14.91 (80th) while Tyler Case (So. - Cedar Springs, Mich.) was on his heels at 32:19.5 in 81st place. Samuel Bruer was the third Cardinal to finish with a season-best time as his 33:13.97 was good for an 86th place finish out of a field of 93 runners in the DII/NAIA race.

Ashland University won the DII/NAIA portion with Olivet Nazarene finishing fourth overall and first when considering NAIA programs.

The cross country team will be off for nearly two weeks before heading out the Lansing Community College Invitational on Sept. 26.