Thomas Caulfield, Joe Smith and Sidi Abdoulaye finished first, second and third, respectively, to lead the St. Lawrence University men's cross country to an impressive win 24th Annual Ronald C. Hoffmann Invitational hosted by St. Lawrence on Saturday morning.

Caulfield, who became the first back-to-back winner of the race since Jeff Lyndaker '94 won in 1993, covered the eight-kilometer course in 25:18.70, averaging 5:05.6 per mile and dropping nearly 35 seconds off his time from last season, when he also won the individual title. His time is the 12th-fastest time ever run on the Ronald C. Hoffmann cross country course, which is named after the longtime coach who grew the program from its infancy to one of the best in the state in the 1970s and 1980s. Smith's 25:27.99 was 47 seconds faster than his time last year when he finished fourth. Abdoulaye posted a time of 26:07.34.

"Tom and Joe ran two of the fastest times for the Saints at the Hoffmann since our 2011 regional championship team took top honors," said head coach John Newman '94. "Similarly, our top-five average time was the fastest for a Saints team other than the 2011 regional team (record) and 8th fastest all time on our course."

St. Lawrence dominated the six-team meet, scoring just 18 points and placing six runners among the top eight. SUNY Plattsburgh was second with 70 points, while LeMoyne was third with 73 and Clarkson finished fourth with 78.

Ben Fishbein was fifth for the Saints in 26:11.03, dropping more than 30 seconds of his 2015 time, while rookie Patrick Mortensen was seventh in 26:23.86, giving the Saints a 1-5 gap of just one minute, five seconds.

Logan Mancuso (8th, 26:25.55) and Brandon Moran (13th, 27:00.61) rounded out the top-seven for the Saints.

"We are starting to see some strong output from our sophomore class as well as our newcomers, while our upperclassmen continue to set the standard for the group," said Newman. "Pat Mortensen dropped 47 seconds from last week and gave us a strong fifth man position, with Logan Mancuso right in tow with a 50 second PR of his own. Ben Fishbein ran a beautifully executed race and has been a very reliable scorer for us this season while helping to set the tempo for our second group. Some of the guys in our middle group are just now starting to see how well they can race, and that's very exciting for our coaching staff."

Sean Beney finished fourth for LeMoyne, while Ethan Vinson led SUNY Plattsburgh with a sixth-place finish.

The Saints head to Bethlehem, Pa., for the Paul Short Run at Lehigh next weekend.

"Today's effort will really help to prime the pump for the Paul Short Run at Lehigh next weekend," said Newman. "To have such a large crowd on hand was also very impressive given the Family Weekend festivities on campus. A special thanks to all the families, students, faculty and staff that came out to support the teams today, as well as our track and field team volunteering as marshals and in the finish chute. It is very much appreciated and certainly added to the operation of the meet and to the atmosphere of the competition and the senior day presentation."