Middlebury College earned first place overall in the 2015 Vermont State Men's Cross Country Championship race held at Johnson State College Saturday morning. The Panthers' junior harrier Brian Rich beat out 68 runners to sprint to 1st place overall, finishing the challenging course in 26:12. Rich completed the race eight seconds ahead of the second place finisher.

For the Badgers, sophomore Brynn Cairns led the Badgers taking 37th overall, finishing the course in 23:59. Teammates Shelby Rosten, Sarah Sodaro and Kate Abdel-Fatah followed Cairns finishing in 59th, 62nd and 64th respectively. 

Norwich University took home the runner-up title placing six runners in the top thirty. St. Michael's College, Lyndon State and Castleton finished third, fourth and fifth respectively followed by hosts Johnson State and Green Mountain. Vermont Technical had four runners complete the course, but did not register a team score. 

The Badgers will return to action on Saturday at 11:00am for the Runnin' Monks Invitational at St. Joe's (ME).