Navy Men’s Cross Country Dominates Cantello Invitational With Seven Top-10 Finishers
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Navy men’s cross country used exceptional depth and disciplined pack running to capture the Cantello Invitational championship Saturday morning at the U.S. Naval Academy Cross Country Course.
The Midshipmen placed seven runners inside the top 10 of the 4.9-mile varsity race and finished with just 22 team points, comfortably defeating second-place George Washington’s 47. UMBC finished third with 66 points, while Loyola Maryland placed fourth with 110.
Senior Zack Poekert led Navy with a second-place finish in 24:39.4. Juniors Dane Eike and James Partlow crossed almost simultaneously behind him, taking third and fourth in 24:39.5 and 24:39.6, respectively.
The Midshipmen ultimately put all five scoring runners across the finish line within 11.6 seconds, a remarkable display of pack running that overwhelmed the rest of the field.
Navy Takes Over the Leaderboard
George Washington junior Charles Mbuthia prevented Navy from sweeping the top individual positions, winning the race in 24:05.0. However, once Mbuthia crossed the finish line, the leaderboard quickly turned almost entirely Navy blue and gold.
Poekert came across 34.4 seconds later at 24:39.4.
Eike was literally one-tenth of a second behind him at 24:39.5.
Partlow followed another one-tenth of a second later at 24:39.6.
Three Midshipmen therefore crossed the finish line within two-tenths of a second of one another. That group immediately put Navy in control of the team competition.
George Washington senior Brayden Bayek interrupted Navy’s pack by taking fifth in 24:44.6, but the Midshipmen immediately began filling the leaderboard again.
Sophomore Luke Bowlsby finished sixth in 24:49.3, while junior Trevor Hayes took seventh in 24:50.9.
With Hayes across the line, Navy had all five of its scoring runners home.
The result was a scoring line of 2-3-4-6-7, giving the Midshipmen their winning total of 22 points.
Only 11.6 Seconds Separate Navy’s Five Scorers
The most impressive number from Saturday may not have been Navy’s 22 points.
It was 11.6 seconds.
Only 11.6 seconds separated Poekert, Navy’s first scoring runner, from Hayes, its fifth. Navy’s five scorers averaged 24:43.8 over the challenging 4.9-mile course.
That is exactly the type of pack running that can make a cross country team extremely difficult to beat.
Instead of relying on one dominant runner to carry the team score, Navy effectively moved around the course as a group. Poekert, Eike, Partlow, Bowlsby and Hayes stayed close enough that another team had almost no opportunity to place runners between them.
Head coach Aaron Lanzel was especially pleased with the discipline.
Lanzel explained afterward that Navy deliberately approached the meet in a controlled manner because a much larger challenge awaits only seven days later at the John McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana.
That meet will take place on the course that hosts this season’s NCAA Championship.
Navy therefore wanted a strong performance Saturday without forcing its runners to expend everything they had this early in the season.
The strategy worked almost perfectly.
Skemp and Gandini Make It Seven in the Top 10
Navy’s dominance did not end when its scoring five finished.
Junior Jonathan Skemp crossed only four-tenths of a second behind Hayes, taking eighth overall in 24:51.3.
UMBC junior Justin Banks then finished ninth in 24:53.4 before another Midshipman arrived.
Junior Patrick Gandini completed Navy’s extraordinary top-10 showing with a 10th-place finish in 24:57.8.
That gave Navy seven of the first 10 positions:
Poekert — second, 24:39.4.
Eike — third, 24:39.5.
Partlow — fourth, 24:39.6.
Bowlsby — sixth, 24:49.3.
Hayes — seventh, 24:50.9.
Skemp — eighth, 24:51.3.
Gandini — 10th, 24:57.8.
Even more impressive, all seven finished within 18.4 seconds of one another.
That type of depth gives Lanzel plenty of options as Navy prepares for increasingly difficult competition later this fall.
Navy’s Depth Extends Even Further
Seven top-10 runners would have been enough to demonstrate Navy’s depth, but the Midshipmen kept coming.
Junior William Driscoll finished 13th overall in 25:11.2, followed by freshman Dominic Pappagallo in 14th at 25:16.5.
Sophomore Shane Conroy finished 16th in 25:19.6. Sophomore William Ditre took 19th in 25:31.4, while freshman Joseph Deledonne placed 20th in 25:37.8.
Sophomore Benjamin Marks followed in 22nd at 25:39.1.
Navy fielded 18 runners in the varsity competition, giving Lanzel an opportunity to evaluate much more than the five athletes who ultimately counted toward the team score.
For an early-season meet, that matters.
Navy is trying to identify the group that will eventually compete for another Patriot League championship and attempt to advance through the NCAA postseason.
Saturday demonstrated that the competition for those positions could be fierce.
George Washington Takes Second
George Washington had the fastest individual runner but could not match Navy’s depth.
Mbuthia won the race by more than half a minute, recording a 24:05.0. Bayek then finished fifth in 24:44.6, giving George Washington two runners among the first five.
The problem for the Revolutionaries was what happened after that.
Navy had already placed six runners across the finish line before George Washington’s third scorer, Joe Fahrney, finished 11th in 25:03.1.
George Washington ultimately finished with 47 points, 25 behind Navy.
The Revolutionaries also finished second in the women’s race, making it a productive trip to Annapolis despite Navy sweeping both team championships.
UMBC Finishes Third
UMBC provided another strong Maryland performance by taking third with 66 points.
Banks led the Retrievers with his ninth-place finish in 24:53.4. The junior produced a personal-best performance and improved his time from the previous season’s race by more than a minute.
John Saltysiak finished 12th in 25:07.0, while Daniel Danilovitz and Kieran White placed 17th and 18th, respectively. Kieran Mischke completed UMBC’s scoring five with a 21st-place overall finish.
UMBC finished comfortably ahead of Loyola Maryland, which scored 110 points.
For Navy, however, neither team could come close to matching the Midshipmen’s concentration near the front of the race.
A Meet That Honors a Navy Legend
Winning the Cantello Invitational carries special significance for Navy because of the man whose name is attached to the event.
Previously known as the Navy Invitational, the meet was renamed in honor of legendary Navy coach Al Cantello, who died Jan. 17, 2024.
Cantello began coaching at the Naval Academy in 1968 and spent 50 years as Navy’s head cross country coach before retiring in August 2018. During his career, Cantello accumulated 49 N-Star victories over Army across Navy’s cross country and track and field programs.
Lanzel knows Cantello’s impact personally.
The current Navy coach graduated from the Naval Academy in 2003 and competed for the Midshipmen cross country and track programs during his time as a midshipman. He later returned to take over Navy’s men’s cross country program in 2018.
Before Saturday’s meet, Lanzel spoke about how Cantello helped establish both the event and Navy’s cross country tradition.
The course has decades of recorded performances and has long served as an early-season test for Midshipmen trying to establish themselves as varsity runners.
Saturday’s team performance certainly lived up to that tradition.
Navy Has Become the Patriot League Standard
Navy enters this season with enormous expectations because of what the program has accomplished under Lanzel.
The Midshipmen have won five consecutive Patriot League championships, capturing the conference title every season from 2021 through 2025.
Lanzel has also earned Patriot League Coach of the Year honors in each of those championship seasons. Navy runners have earned 33 All-Patriot League honors under Lanzel, including 24 first-team selections.
The personnel changes from year to year, but the expectations have remained.
That makes Saturday’s performance particularly encouraging.
Navy lost important runners from last season’s team, yet the next group immediately demonstrated that it possesses significant depth.
Lanzel said after the meet that he believes virtually everyone on the team has raised his expectations compared with where he was a year ago.
Based on Saturday’s results, there is plenty of reason for that optimism.
Poekert Steps Into a Leading Role
Poekert’s performance deserves particular attention.
The senior was Navy’s first runner across the line and finished second overall. More importantly, he helped establish the pace for the enormous group of Midshipmen immediately behind him.
Eike and Partlow were essentially attached to Poekert as the three crossed the finish line.
A difference of only two-tenths of a second separated second place from fourth.
That visual — three Navy runners finishing virtually shoulder-to-shoulder — represented exactly how the Midshipmen won the meet.
Cross country scoring rewards teams that can minimize the gaps between runners. Navy did much more than minimize them Saturday.
The Midshipmen nearly eliminated them.
A Big Improvement From the Season Opener
The victory also represents progress from Navy’s first competition of the season.
The Midshipmen opened their campaign Sept. 5 at the Salisbury Fall Classic and finished second among four teams.
One week later, Navy returned home and produced a significantly stronger team result.
There was also a strategic difference. Lanzel did not ask his runners to chase Mbuthia when the George Washington junior established himself at the front.
Instead, Navy maintained its pack.
That decision sacrificed a potential individual victory but helped ensure the Midshipmen controlled the team competition.
The result speaks for itself.
Seven top-10 runners.
Five scorers separated by 11.6 seconds.
Twenty-two team points.
A 25-point victory.
For a program that ultimately measures success through team championships, that is exactly the type of early-season performance Navy wanted.
NCAA Championship Course Comes Next
Navy will not have much time to celebrate.
The Midshipmen travel to Terre Haute, Indiana, for the John McNichols Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 19. The men’s race is scheduled for 9:05 a.m.
The location makes the meet especially valuable.
Navy will compete on the same course scheduled to host the NCAA Championship later this season. Lanzel specifically referenced that upcoming challenge when explaining why he wanted his runners to remain controlled at the Cantello Invitational.
Terre Haute should provide a much better indication of where Navy stands nationally.
Saturday proved the Midshipmen could dominate a four-team field on their home course.
The next challenge is determining whether that exceptional pack can remain together against a deeper and faster field.
MSB Take
Seven runners inside the top 10 tells you almost everything you need to know about Navy’s performance.
Charles Mbuthia was clearly the fastest individual runner Saturday, and that did not matter. Navy did not need to win the individual championship because the Midshipmen completely overwhelmed George Washington, UMBC and Loyola with depth.
The most impressive part was the finish by Poekert, Eike and Partlow. They crossed second, third and fourth within two-tenths of a second of one another. Then Bowlsby, Hayes and Skemp arrived within roughly another 12 seconds.
That is not simply having several good runners. That is a legitimate pack.
For a Navy program coming off five consecutive Patriot League championships, Saturday should be encouraging because it suggests the Midshipmen have another deep group capable of maintaining the standard Lanzel has established.
There is still a long way to go. Navy deliberately kept this race controlled, and the John McNichols Invitational will provide a much tougher examination on the NCAA Championship course.
But 22 points, seven top-10 finishers and an 11.6-second scoring spread are difficult numbers to ignore.
Navy did not just win the Cantello Invitational.
The Midshipmen showed that the program’s next championship-caliber pack may already be taking shape.
