FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Virginia Tech men’s cross country squad finished fourth out of 29 teams at the Chile Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday, duplicating its effort from the 2008 Chile Pepper Invite.

Senior Devin Cornwall paced the Hokies in the 10,000-meter race, placing 15^th overall out of 243 runners and 11^th in the team race with a time of 30:22. Sophomore Will Mulherin came in right behind Cornwall in 16^th place overall, 12^th in the team standings, clocking 20:23.64.

Sophomore Michael Hammond put together his strongest performance of the season thus far, taking 27^th overall and 23^rd in the team competition with a time of 30:49.90. Junior Matt Kroetch and senior Paul LaPenna rounded out the team scoring for Tech, finishing 30^th and 32^nd overall, respectively. Kroetch timed in at 30:53.21 for 25^th place in the team standings, while LaPenna earned a time of 31:01.47 for 27^th place in the team competition.

The Hokies bettered their team score at this season’s Chile Pepper Invite, tallying 98 points at the meet. In 2008, Tech placed fourth with 130 points. Oklahoma State, ranked fourth in the nation, won the meet with 21 points, followed by Oklahoma and host Arkansas in second and third, respectively. The Sooners, ranked 23^rd in the country, totaled 52 points, while the Razorbacks, who are No. 25 in the nation, earned 89 points. Texas Tech rounded out the top five with 214 points.

The women’s squad competed last night, placing second at the Blue Ridge Open with 104 points. Junior Jessica Trapeni led the way for the Hokies, finishing 14^th overall and eighth in the team competition with a 5,000-meter clocking of 18:20.26.

Both Tech squads will take a week off before competing in the ACC Championships in Cary, N.C., on Oct. 31. Results will be available on hokiesports.com following the meet.