EDINBORO, Pa. – Seniors CJ Johnson (Baltimore, Md.) and Ethan Keating (Wooster, Ohio) finished second and third, respectively, to lead the Daemen University men's cross country team to a fourth-place finish at the season-opening Doug Watts Open on Saturday afternoon.

With the majority of the Wildcats pack running in the season opener today, Daemen finished with a team-score of 102. Slippery Rock claimed the title (31 points) after all five scoring runners finished in the top-10 today, including the race winner Easton Adamczyk. Host Edinboro (64 points) and Gannon (64 points) finished second and third.

Johnson, the 2026 East Coast Conference Preseason Runner of the Year, picked up right where he left off from his incredible junior season, leading the Wildcats and finishing second overall, just four seconds behind the top finisher this afternoon with a time of 19:54.6 over the 6K race. Keating finished second on the team and third overall, clocking a time of 20:03.7, marking his second fastest 6K time in his collegiate career.

Sophomore Simon Evans (Galway, N.Y.) finished third on the team and 32^nd overall with a time of 21:24.8 in his first collegiate 6K race. Making his Daemen debut, freshman Ryan Weller (Farmington, N.Y.) placed 50^th with a time of 21:56.7, while fellow freshman Mike Gregoire (Amherst, N.Y.) rounded out the Daemen scorers finishing fifth on the team and 64^th overall with a time of 22:52.5.

Senior Brad Tobin (Hamburg, N.Y.) placed 66^th at 22:59.6 while sophomores Andre Kannisto (Boston, N.Y.) and Brendan Smukall (Buffalo, N.Y.) finished 75^th (24:04.2) and 78^th (25:21.9), respectively.

Daemen is off for the next three weeks before resuming the season at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational in Rochester, N.Y. on Sept. 26.