GREEN BAY – Milwaukee men's cross country placed three runners in the top six finishers at the Phoenix Open hosted by Green Bay on Friday.
 
The Panthers' team score of 61 was good enough for third out of seven competing programs, falling only to Oshkosh (58) and Michigan Tech (40).
 
Aidan Sodemann led the way for Milwaukee, grabbing a third-place finish with a career best time of 25:13.9. Cullen Boyle and Bryce Tome followed in the fifth and sixth spots respectively with times of 25:22.4 and 25:25.8.
 
"I thought our athletes ran really well; much better than they did in this same meet last year," Head Coach Andrew Basler said. "(Boyle) took a good step for us, and so did Carter Eckhoff and Sam Schreiber. All young guys, so it just really bodes well for the future of the program."
 
The only other Panther to finish in the top 25 was Eckhoff, who recorded a 24^th place finish and a time of 26:19.3.
 
"The men did an outstanding job," Assistant Coach Jake Reilly said. "I think outside of our fifth-year seniors, almost everyone finished with a lifetime best. It's exciting seeing how much they've all improved since last year, and how much further they can go before the league championships."
 
Milwaukee finished with an average time of 25:49, a full 19 seconds ahead of 4^th place Green Bay.
 
Milwaukee runs next at the John McNichols Invite, hosted by Indiana State. The race is scheduled for an 8:00 AM start on September 16.