BUFFALO, NY – Franciscan's Cross Country teams ended a successful season at the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships in Buffalo, New York. The men's team finished third overall led by the strong running of junior Patrick Flanagan while the women finished second led by a strong overall team effort.

Last season, FUS finished second in both mens and womens led by their two best athletes, All-American Bill Jones and AMCC champion Nicole Krajewski. Franciscan was without both athletes in 2013 but was able finish their seasons in similar positions anyway.

"This is exactly where we wanted to be," Kuebler said. "I am very proud of our runners and their ability to take on such a tough course."

The Lady Baron runners used teamwork and unity to help propel themselves into the runner-up spot. Junior Allison Huelseman was the first FUS runner to cross the finish line with a 6k time of 25:16. Senior Molly Chambers finished directly behind her teammate with a time of 25:23 and sophomore Colene Smith finished when the clock read 25:25. All three girls finished ninth, tenth, and eleventh and all have spots on the AMCC All-Conference Team.

"It was nice for those girls to grab second,"" Kuebler said. "We are very proud of their efforts and that race showed their heart."

For the men, Flanagan ran the fastest race of his career with an 8k time of 26:55, marking the first time he has ever ran sub 27 minutes. After spending the majority of the race in third place he dropped down to fifth with about a mile left to go. Regardless, his performance helped vault his men's squad into the third place.

"That was the fastest I have ever seen him run," Kuebler said. "Pat told me that nobody was head or shoulders better than him so he was going to go 100 percent for the top spot. We are excited to have him back for next year. He has some room for improvement and he was already keeping up with the highest competition."

This was the first time all season that the Barons finished with seven male runners under 30 minutes in the 8K. Big performances came from David Byers who finished in nineteenth place with a time of 28:16. Junior Michael McLaughlin finished with a personal record of 29:03 when his team needed him the most.

"Everybody ran really well top to bottom," Kuebler said of his team. "Everybody was breaking their PR's and had a lot of fun today."

Now that the regular season is over Kuebler is sending his strongest seven men and seven women to the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Meet at Bethlehem, Pa to compete against other Div III athletes.