The University of Rhode Island men’s cross country team competed in its second race of the season on Friday morning, the Paul Short Run, finishing 14th of 35 schools.
Hosted by Lehigh University, the Rams competed against several Northeast schools and Atlantic 10 Conference foes.
The Rams, with 450 points, finished one spot below Saint Joseph’s University, which had 440 points. In the 2026 preseason poll, the Hawks were ranked fourth while URI was fifth.
There are 21 Rams on this season’s roster compared to last season’s 13. Several athletes have made the transition from track to the outdoor course.
“When you think of yourself as just a track runner, you’re not going to be good at cross country,” URI assistant coach Brian Doyle said. “They are doing a good job of translating that and being tough for 25 minutes.”
Before the race, Doyle took note of the weather conditions to change up the team’s approach.
“I went down to the finish line to see the race before ours, and it looked like the athletes had jumped in a pond,” Doyle said. “The plan initially was to go out really fast and hold on. But when it’s super hot, you have to do the opposite, and I think a lot of teams ended up fading because they just didn’t pay attention.”
Fourth-year Nick Martin led the way for the Rams in the 8K Gold Race. He earned fourth place out of 328 runners.
“I think I’ve proven myself on the track, but I haven’t really done it in cross country yet,” Martin said. “This was kind of me telling everyone, ‘Hey, I’m here, and I’m not going away.’ I was up there the whole race in that lead pack, and I had a chance to fight for the win.”
Last season, Martin contributed to URI’s first-place finish in the New England Championship race with a third-place finish.
“I’ve had ups and downs in my career, and I think just working through and showing up every day, no matter what, has all just compounded,” Martin said. “It’s the ability to be disciplined and work towards these long-term goals because this sport is a lot of repetitive, monotonous training, and it takes up a lot of time.”
Third-year Matt Lucas had the second-best finish for URI in 41st place, jumping 91 spots after the first mile.
Second-year Ryan Kaiser, who was named A10 Performer of the Week on Sept. 15 after his performance in the Bryant Nassaney Invitational, finished 106th.
Rounding out the Rhody runners were third-year Jeremy Roe in 145th, third-year Jason Padula in 177th and Maddox Jordan in 178th. Roe jumped 11 spots in the final mile while Jordan jumped 25.
“I’m really glad for our guys to have executed the plan and know that they trusted it,” Doyle said. “That was probably our best team performance in like 90 years.”
