Mugun Leads Firebirds Men's Cross Country at George Mason Invitational

LEESBURG, VA - Competing on the tough, 7.8K Oatlands Plantation course at the GMU Invitational against all Division I teams, senior Hillary Mugun (Accounting - Nandi Hills, Kenya/Meteitei)once again led the way  for the Firebirds men's cross country team with a 33rd place finish among 91 collegiate athletes, in a time of 26:50.

Senior Zephaniah Koech (Accounting - Nandi Hills, Kenya/Terige HS) continued to show improvement with a competitive time of 28:33 for a 70th place finish. Freshman Baldin Needham (Sociology - Browns Town, Jamaica/St. Jago HS) was next for the Firebirds in a time of 29:50 to finish 83rd, followed by freshman Najee Anderson (Criminal Justice - Bowie, MD/Charles Flowers HS) in 90th with a time of 32:51.

"Hillary and Zephaniah had a great meet, running close to the same time from their prior meet but on an extremely tough course," head coach Alton McKenzie said. "We had some misfortune with an injury to one of our athletes, but how we respond to this adversity will determine if we can step up and overcome challenges that come during a season. We will look to get healthy as a team and lean on our senior leadership as we get ready for our next meet and start preparing for the championship portion of our season."

Up next for the University of the District of Columbia is the Delaware State Farm Run Invitational on October 6th in Smyrna, DE. This will be the Firebirds' final regular season test before it competes at the ECC Championships in Brookville, NY on October 21st.