CHINO- The University of La Verne men's cross country team placed two inside the top-10 at the SCIAC Championships en route to a fourth-place finish at Prado Park Saturday.

Sophomore Bryan Hayes was the first Leopard finisher across the line, covering the 8,000-meter course is 26 minutes, 2.64 seconds to earn first-team all-SCIAC honors. Senior Cris Gutierrez took joined him as a first-team selection with a ninth-place finish (26:32.12). Freshman Tanner Long finished 25th (27:16.55) with senior Alberto Acosta close behind in 27th (27:20.45). Sophomore Jahi Gains checked in at 36th, while juniors Jayden Earlywine and Ted Breslow were 41st (27:51.76) and 62nd (28:26.96) respectively to round out the varsity squad.

The Leos accumulated 91 points on the day. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the team title with 51 points. John Guzman of Occidental was the individual champion with a finishing time of 25:30.19 in the 139-runner field. 

Next up for La Verne is the NCAA West Region Championships Nov. 16 in Claremont. The top-two teams automatically qualify for the NCAA national championships in Hanover, Ind. Nov. 23. At-large bids are determined the following day.  The top-seven individuals not on a qualifying team will also make the trip to Hanover.