LOUISVILLE, Ky. --- In a field that featured better than 20 NCAA I teams, NAIA No.8 ranked University of St. Francis' men's cross country team and Omar Paramo made quite the statement at the Louisville Cross Country Classic on Saturday morning at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park.
 

Only eight NCAA I and two NCAA II teams placed higher than the Saints in the 36-team field as USF recorded an 11th-place finish with its 402 total points. The next closest NAIA team was No.3 ranked Taylor University (Ind.), which scored 515 points to place 21st.
 

Individually, Paramo was just as strong placing 19th overall out of 355 finishers with his time of 23:54.5 on the 8K course. Also landing in the top 25 percent of all runners was Caleb Bolus at No. 75 with his 24:40.2 mark.
 

Just missing out on being one of the top 100 finishers was Jordan Freese at No. 105 (24:57.5) and Carlos Martinez at No. 108 (24:59.7). The rest of USF's scoring came from Michael Reif in the 117th spot at 25:04.5.
 

NCAA I No.14 ranked University of Wisconsin captured the team title by having its top five runners place among the top ten overall finishers. The Badgers totaled 26 points with NCAA II co-No.1 Grand Valley State University next in line with 67 points.
 

Grand Valley State's Isaac Harding claimed the individual meet title with his time of 23:16.7.
 

Up Next
The Saints have less than one week to recover before competing in the Bethel University (Ind.) Invitational on Friday (Oct. 8).  Links to live timing when available can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on Twitter @USFSaints.