Polyak and Farrell set PR's as Devils Place 21st at Paul Short

Juniors Georgiy Polyak and Marty Farrell set personal best times as the University of the Sciences men's cross country team battled their way to a 21st place finish at Friday's Lehigh Brooks Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Polyak (Delaware Valley HS/Dingmans Ferry, Pa.) was the Devils second finisher, crossing the line in the 8,000-meter race in 28:23 nearly 20 seconds faster than his previous best set earlier this year.  Farrell (Monsignor Bonner HS/Drexel Hill, Pa.) was third on the Devils squad, finishing right behind Polyak in 28:25, breaking his previous best by five seconds.  Polyak was 94th overall and Farrell was 97th out of 293 finishers.

The Devils top finisher, senior Pete Grant (St. Joseph Prep HS/Springfield, Pa.) was 60th overall with a time of 27:47, narrowly missing a personal best time by .2 seconds.  Sophomore Robert Glass(Highland Regional HS/Blackwood, N.J.) also missed setting a personal best time by less than a second, finishing the race in 29:47 (.4 off his best time).  Glass was the Devils fourth finisher.

Sophomores Mike Pecorino(Monsignor Farrell HS/Staten Island, N.Y.) and Christian Radzinski(Neshaminy HS/Langhorne, Pa.) were the Devils fifth and sixth finishers, completing the course in 30:11 and 30:29 respectively.   Junior Tuynh Nguyen(Montgomery Blair HS (Md.)/Morrow, Ga.) and senior Steve Maylie (Springfield HS/Springfield, Pa.) were the next two Sciences' runners to finish, crossing the line in 30:54 and 30:57.

Junior Francisco Garcia(Don Cesar Gascon/Balcarce Buenos Aires Argentina) and sophomore Brendan Degnan(Central Bucks South HS/Doylestown, Pa.) rounded out the Devils competitors in the meet.   Garcia finished in 31:10 while Degnan crossed the line in 32:24. 

The University of the Sciences men's cross country team returns to action on Saturday, October 9, 2010 when they will compete at the Goldey-Beacom Invitational at Carousel Park in Wilmington, Delaware.