Sept. 8, 2007

ATLANTA, Ga. - Kennesaw State was led to victory by Sophomore Peikko Solla on Saturday moring as the men's cross country team finished with seven Owls in the top ten at the Mercer Atlanta Invitational.

The Owls (2-3-4-5-7) looked strong as they easily handled the eight team field with 16 points. Mercer finished second with 73 points, while Valdosta State finished third with 82 points.

"We were just one runner away from having a perfect score," said head coach Stan Sims. "Still today's performance is what I expected from our men and they delivered. Peikko (Solla) is having a great season and our freshmen runners keep getting better."

Solla secured a second place finish as he completed the 6k course in 20:48.79. Nathan Haskins finished third shortly after with a time of 20:57.51 while Piotr Witczak (20:57.89) and Steven Murray (21:29.99) rounded out the top five. Junior Michael Johnson (21:37.66) finished seventh to complete the scoring for KSU.

The Owls (13-1) will return to action next Saturday when they participate in the Georgia State Invitational held in Atlanta.

Mercer Atlanta Invitational

Team Results
1. Kennesaw State 16; 2. Mercer 73; 3. Voldosta State 83; 4. Dorton College 91; 5. Oglethorpe 166; 6. Clark-Atanta 169; 7. Piemont 177; Fort Valley State 188

Individual Results
2. Peikko Solla 20:27.77
3. Nathan Haskins 20:57.51
4. Piotr Witczak 20:57.89
5. Steven Murray 21:29.99
7. Michael Johnson 21:37.66
10. Maxwell Ndungu 21:46.60
11. Adam Williams 21:57.72
12. Matteo DiCecco 21:58.98
13. Matthew Auers 22:03.23
14. Brett Luna 22:26.18
18. Gianni Catalano 22:44.32
26. James Verdi 23:50.72
28. Kevin Mahncke 24:14.57
39. Michael Guntner 24:47.26
51. Alex Hay III 25:38.96