Keene, N.H. – Running in their season-opening dual meet, the Clark University men's cross country team was narrowly edged out by host Keene State, 28-27, on Friday afternoon on the Keene campus.

The Owl freshman duo of Iid Shiekh-Yusuf and Matt Marchand finished the 5K race 1-2 to take top honors, churning out times of 16:31.7 and 17:14.9, respectively.

Right on their heels was the Scarlet and White's top performer in John Allard (Smithfield, R.I.), who crossed the line in 17:18.3.

Alexander Hull (Mount Laurel, N.J.) and Ryan VanDine (Bolton, Conn.) were right behind Allard, posting times of 17:37.5 and 17:40.3 to give Clark three of the top five finishers.

Two more Cougar harriers – Tim Conley (Walpole, Mass.) and Seamus O'Connor (Granby, Mass.) – registered times good enough to finish in the top ten, but it was Keene State who had eight of the top 14 scoring runners cross the finish line first, giving them the narrow victory.

Clark is now off until next Saturday when they travel to Smith College for the Pioneers annual invitational.