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HPU junior Neal Darmody was the individual champion as the High Point University men's cross country team finished second in the Blue Ridge Open on Friday in Boone, N.C. Freshman Patrick Crawford finished sixth overall and was the third collegiate finisher.

"It was a great win for Neal, he beat several good post-collegiate runners and a good runner from Kentucky," said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. "Patrick had another good race and Jacob Smith has shown a good progression over the last month. Jacob Roach stepped up big for us. As a team, everyone was very engaged in this race."

Host Appalachian State won the race with 59 points to edge High Point's 63. The Panthers were running without senior Jevin Monds, who sat out with a minor injury. Virginia Tech finished third (108), Kentucky finished fourth (143) and Mississippi State took fifth (160). Four other Big South members were in the meet: VMI placed sixth with 177 points, Coastal Carolina placed 16th with 431, Radford placed 17th (443) and Gardner-Webb took 18th (529).

Darmody won with a career-best 8K time of 24:35.9. He ran in the top three for the whole race before taking the lead and holding it throughout the last mile. He was followed by three ZAP Fitness runners, including HPU graduate Cole Atkins, who finished fourth in 24:41.1. Kentucky's Luis Orta placed fifth.

Crawford was the third collegian, finishing sixth overall with a time of 24:57.5. Sophomore Jacob Smith placed 16th in 25:19.5 and freshman Jacob Roach placed 29th in 25:38.6. Sophomore Dakota Peachee was HPU's fifth finisher in 34th overall and a time of 25:45.1. Freshman John Yankello took 45th in 26:02.8 and junior Mike Ali placed 67th in 26:29.5.

In the open 8K, HPU sophomore Jonathan Riley placed fourth with a time of 26:56.1, sophomore Anthony Kilar took 10th in 27:42.1 and sophomore Mike Peavey took 28th in 29:51.5.

The Blue Ridge Open was HPU's final tune-up for the Big South Championship, which will be hosted by Radford in Blacksburg, Va., on Oct. 30. The Panthers finished second to Liberty in the Big South Championship in 2009.