LAWRENCE, Kan. -- The Indiana Wesleyan University men’s cross country team nearly beat two top-10 programs on Saturday afternoon at the Kansas Pre-National Invitational held in Lawrence, Kansas, the site of the upcoming NAIA National Championship next month.

No. 12 Indiana Wesleyan placed third in the 31-team invitational that featured seven top-25 programs. IWU finished with 93 points and was a mere nine points out of first place. No. 3 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) claimed the win in the ultra-competitive meet with 84 points as they edged No. 7 Aquinas (Mich.) with 85 points. Indiana Wesleyan took third with 93 points and No. 22 Taylor (Ind.) finished a distant fourth place at 162 points.

Neno Bellinotti (FR/Sweetser, Ind.) led the Wildcat pack with a third place finish in the 300-runner field. Bellinotti finished the 8,000-meter course in a time of 25 minutes 12 seconds. John Wilson (JR/Angola, Ind.) gave the Wildcats a second top-10 finish as he was 10th place in a time of 25:53.

Jacob Reinking (SO/Ft. Wayne, Ind.) ran a time of 26:23 to finish 19th and Josh Neideck crossed the line in 26:40 for 30th position. Tyler Laubach (JR/Walnutport, Pa.) was the final scorer for Indiana Wesleyan as he was 34th in a time of 26:45. Nathan Gerick (SO/LaPorte, Ind.) was 68th in a time of 27:18 and Alex Brown (JR/Coleman, Mich.) took 107th in 28:00 flat.

Indiana Wesleyan will take two weeks off before their next competition. IWU will have split squads with meets on October 24 at the Cedarville Invitational in Cedarville, Ohio and then on October 25 at NAIA Great Lakes Invitational in Grand Rapids, Michigan.