Huntsville, Ala. - The North Georgia men's team finished ninth overall in the first meet of the season on Saturday at Sharon Johnston Park. University of Alabama-Huntsville hosted the meet and took first place in the men's 8k.

The field of teams was composed of 13 NCAA schools, two NAIA schools, and one junior college.

In the men's race, junior Lucas Ridley of Sewanee won the race with a time of 26:23. Sophomore John Kungu of Alabama State and sophomore Brandon York of UAH finished second and third with a time of 26:59 and 27:06.5 respectively. UAH won the overall men's competition followed by Valdosta State in second and Sewanee in third.

For the Saints, sophomore Bryan Harris (Cleveland, Ga.) was the top finisher for the men with a time of 29:28 and finished in 27th place. Freshman Alan Schmitz (Warner Robins, Ga.) finished in 38th place with a time of 29:53 followed by freshman Matt Ueltzen (Blairsvile, Ga.) who finished in 45th place. Juniors Kelly Parr (Maysville, Ga.) and Matt Temples (Cumming, Ga.) rounded out the scorers for North Georgia finishing in a time of 30:47 and 31:12 respectively.

North Georgia will be back in action this weekend as they head to Lee University for the Flames Invitational. The women's race begins at 9:00 a.m. followed by the men's race at 9:45 a.m.

2004 University of Alabama-Huntsville Cross Country Invitational

NGCSU Men's Results - 8k
Place	Name	Time
27	Bryan Harris	29:28.5
38	Alan Schmitz	29:53.6
45	Matt Ueltzen	30:09.7
56	Kelly Parr	30:47.8
66	Matt Temples	31:32.3
67	Tommy Stapleton	31:46.5
88	Mikhail Bondarew	34:23.2

Men's Overall
Place	School	Points
1	UAH	43
2	Valdosta State	113
3	Sewanee	119
4	North Alabama	123
5	Southern Arkansaw	125
6	Austin Peay	157
7	Alabama State	185
8	Carson-Newman	211
9	North Georgia	221
10	Covenant College	254
11	Northwest Shoals	270
12	West Alabama	271
13	Alabama A&M	407