Queens University of Charlotte's Oscar Ogwaro (Redding, Calif., Bravo Medical Magnet)and MIchael Crouch (Yucca Valley, Calif., Yucca Valley)pulled away from the field over the last two miles to take the top two individual spots with the Royals just narrowly missing the overall team title at Appalachian State's Covered Bridge Invitational on Friday. Florida State University, #20 in Division I in 1997, took first edging out Queens 34 to 36. Appalachian State was a distance 3rd with 62 points with Clemson finishing 4th (95), North Florida 5th (155), UNC-Charlotte 6th (170), Mars Hill 7th (196), Winthrop 8th (246), and Lees-McRae 9th (252).

Junior Ogwaro breezed to the individual title running 25:47 on the wet 8,000-meter course, with Crouch, a sophomore, closing well for the Royals for the runner-up spot at 25:52. Junior transfers Matthew Rowell (Show Low, Ariz. , Blue Ridge )and Futsum Mebrathu (Phoenix, Ariz., North)surged over the last two miles to take 4th and 7th, respectively, at 26:05 and 26:17, with All-American returner Ryan Connelly (Hillsborough, N.C., Orange) rounding out team scoring with 23rd at 26:52.

Other Royal finishers in the 114-man field included sophomore Marius Koksvik (Tingvoll, Norway, Tingvoll)in 29th (27:21) and freshman Jeffery Donahue (Jordan, N.Y., Jordan-Elbridge)in 80th (29:06).

The Royals' men's cross country team, preseason ranked 19th in NCAA DII and #1 in the Southeast Region, will be off for the next two weekends and will return to action at the Asics Winthrop Invitational on September 20th.