BOLIVAR, Mo.- Junior Michael Boone led the Drury men's cross country team with a 20th place finish in the Panthers season opener at the Bearcat Invitational hosted by Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar on Saturday.
 
Boone, a junior from Saint Charles, Illinois, completed the seven-kilometer race in 23:50.69. Seva Nix finished 27th as the junior from Bandera, Texas posted a time of 24:03.25. Brenden Crews, a freshman from Springfield-Kickapoo, was two spots behind Nix crossing the finish line in 24:10.64.
 
20th ranked Missouri Southern State won the event with 33 points while Washburn finished second with 45. Drury finished seventh among nine teams with 163 points. The Panthers were just behind Central Missouri's total of 156 for sixth place.
 
"Michael Boone had a great race to lead us and be our number one runner for the first time," said Drury head coach Jamie Moreno. "Seva Nix had a really nice race, and Brendan Bena showed that he's much better and a different runner from last year. You could see that our upperclassmen went out a little bit fast and faded and our young guys learned some things today.
 
"When we have Ryan Way back at full strength, and when we get Cameron Byrley back in there for us, that will help, but we had a lot of good things happen for us today."  
 
The Panthers compete again on Sept. 15 in the Missouri Southern Stampede hosted by Missouri Southern State in Joplin.
 
 
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