The UD Men's Cross Country team continued their spring season at Cedarville University Saturday. It marked the opening of the outdoor running season for the Flyers. They competed in the Yellow Jacket Collegiate Outdoor Open. All six Flyers entered in the 5,000 meter race ran personal best times.

The UD men's competitive racing season takes place in the fall, but NCAA regulations permit the team to compete in five track meets during the spring season. This allows the team opportunities for year-round conditioning.

Freshman Matthew Peters led the team by placing third. He ran 15:36 in his 5,000 meter track debut.

Junior runner Eric Contreras and sophomore Dan Sammons followed, placing fourth and fifth respectively in the field of 23 runners. Contreras recorded a personal best time of 15:37. This beat his previous best by 12 seconds. Sammons showed impressive improvement by shaving twenty seven seconds off his previous best. He completed the race with a time of 16:00.

Sophomore runners Billy Przybyla and Eriksen VanEtten also had career days finishing eighth and ninth, respectively. Przybyla ran a 16:19 in his first 5,000 meter race as a Flyer. VanEtten's 16:25 performance represented an improvement of 31 seconds from his freshman year.

Rounding out the Flyer field was freshman Tim Kaelin. This was also his first 5,000 meter track race as a Flyer. He turned in a time of 16:38, good enough for 14th place.

The next track meet scheduled for the men's cross country 2006 spring season will be April 8 at Miami University.

Back in February, UD started its spring season with its indoor meets. On Feb. 3, the men's team took first place at the Cedarville University Indoor Invitational.

The 4 X 800 meter relay team shattered a record that was set in 1985. By finishing in 8:10.65, beating the old record by twenty one seconds. Dan Sammons, Matt Danis, Eric Contreras and Matthew Peters all established personal bests in the 800 meter run. Peters also set a personal best of 4:34.10 in the mile run and placed fourth.

The indoor season continued on Feb. 18 at the Scarlet and Grey Invitational in Columbus. This was the final meet for the indoor portion of the spring season. Eight Flyers ran personal bests.

Freshmen Matthew Peters led the way by placing forth in the mile with a time of 4:23.19. Four other Flyers also established bests in the mile. Junior Eric Contreras finished in 4:30.02, sophomore Dan Sammons finished in 4:33.22, freshman Tim Kaelin finished in 4:38.65 and sophomore Dan Thompson finished in 5:06.08.

Junior Matt Danis was the top Flyer in the 800-meter run. He came in sixth place with a person best of 9:13.32. Michael Connolly and Billy Przybyla set personal records of their own in the 3000 meter race. Connolly ran it in 9:24.87 and Przybyla recorded a 9:27.34.

The Flyers enjoyed a nice indoor season filled with many personal records. So far the outdoor season has been successful and the team hopes to continue their success with the remaining schedule.

Again, the next meet will be held at Miami University on April 8, and the final outdoor meet will be in Wilmington, Ohio on April 22. Both meets begin at 11 a.m.