By Alex Bensley, news staff

The Northeastern men’s cross-country team fought their way to a second-place finish in the Rothenberg Invitational at Brown University on Friday afternoon.

Only six men’s runners were sent to Brown, while the women’s team did not compete. Resting them was precautionary, for injury and fatigue purposes, as the CAA Championships take place this coming Friday.

In a three-team 8k totaling only 24 runners, Brown took first place with an average of time of 26:06, followed by Northeastern at 26:16 and Rhode Island at 26:21.

Northeastern senior Tucker McNinch, who missed most of last season due to  medical reasons, finished second overall — trailing an unattached runner — with a time of 26:05 to lead the Huskies in the 8k.

“It was a nice course,” McNinch said. “I ran at that course actually a few times in high school and had a good pack I ran with the entire race.”

Senior Michael Duggan was next in line for Northeastern, crossing the line at 26:07, in eighth place. Sophomore Steven Flanagan was one place and two seconds behind Duggan, standing at ninth place.

Sophomore Tyler Miller, senior Ben Weingart  and junior Luke Novak rounded out the top five for the Huskies with places of 14th, 16th, and 20th, and times of 26:25, 26:32 and 27:09, respectively.

McNinch believed his teammates ran well.

“I feel like everyone had pretty good races, did what they expected to do,” he said.

This race served as a sharpener for this coming weekend’s conference meet.

In last year’s CAA Championships, the men finished in second and the women finished in fifth. On the men’s side, William & Mary captured the title for the 18th consecutive year.

The men look to end that streak and begin one of their own, while the women also seek to take home the title.

The Huskies travel to Farmingdale, New York for the CAA Championships this Friday, Oct. 26th at 10 a.m.