MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The rain and lightning were not enough to slow down the Southern Arkansas Mulerider Men's Cross Country on Friday evening at the 13^th running of the Lois Davis Invitational. The Muleriders ran to the program's fourth LDI team title and third straight by edging Ouachita 25-35.
 
With the starting gun originally set to fire at 6 p.m. for the women's two mile, both the men (5k) and the women left the starting line at 6:50 due to lightning and rain in the area.
 
Ouachita pushed the top two runners across in under 17 minutes, but a pack of Muleriders followed in third through eighth and tenth. Giovani Diaz was the top finisher for SAU crossing in third place (17:04.3), with Jorge Sanchez finishing fourth (17:10.7) and Brandon Escobar placing fifth (17:10.9) to round out the top five.
 
Pedro Cervantes (17:11.8) followed in sixth place, Joseph Uc (17:17.9) in seventh and Charles Patton (17:19.7) in eighth. Joe Duirden (17:30.8) placed tenth as the final of seven Muleriders to cross inside the top ten of the 36-runner field. Joseph Garay (18:05.2) rounded out SAU's representation as all eight Muleriders placed inside the top 15.
 
Not only did six Muleriders cross one after another but they did so nearly together as Diaz and Duirden were separated by 26 seconds. Fifth through seventh place, all Muleriders, were distanced by just seven seconds.
 
The Muleriders' title on Friday is added to LDI wins in 2018, 2021 and 2022.
 
Southern Arkansas returns to action at the end of the month for the Chili Pepper Festival hosted by the University of Arkansas on Friday, September 29 in Fayetteville. Live result links will be made available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.