LANCASTER, PA – Aldace Fleming (Jr., Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) will lead the way as the Franklin & Marshall College men’s cross country team competes at the 2004 Centennial Conference Championship meet on October 30 at McDaniel College.

The Diplomats, who finished eighth at last year’s championship race, will look to record their best finish since the 1996 team finished sixth.

Leading the way to date has been Fleming who finished fourth at the Goucher College Invitational in 28:17.06 while Matt Bartoloni (Sr., Staten Island, NY/St. Josephs by the Sea) placed fifth in 28:21.07 to lead the team to a second place finish.

Franklin & Marshall will enter the championship race with some experience over McDaniel’s course as Bartoloni and Harrison Miller (Fr., Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill) finished ninth and 10th in 28:22 and 28:24, respectively, over the eight kilometer course as the Franklin & Marshall College men's cross country team finished third of eight teams at the McDaniel College Invitational on September 11.

The finish marked the second top three finish of the season for the Diplomats as Franklin & Marshall won the Delaware Valley College Invitational on September 4.

Overall, F&M placed six runners in the top 20 at McDaniel as Charlie Bowen (Fr., Middletown, PA/Middletown), Matt Batzel (Sr., Susquehanna, PA/Susquehanna Community), Fleming and Pavel Marosin (Fr., Jackson Heights, NY/Francis Lewis) finished 15, 16, 18 and 20, respectively.

If F&M is to win the Conference title, the team will have to knock off Centennial Conference powerhouse Haverford College that is favored to take its 12th consecutive CC crown.

The Fords are led by 2003 Centennial Conference runners Bobby Cannon, Kirk Mangels, Grant Scott, Zachary Vaslow, Bernie Muller and Brian Baillie.

The Haverford lineup is impressive as Cannon finished second at the 2003 Championship, while Mangels, Vaslow, Muller and Baillie placed third, fourth, fifth, ninth, 12th and 14th, respectively.

However, the Fords will have to compete with several other runners for the individual title as Swarthmore’s Lang Reynolds returns to defend his 2003 title. Reynolds and Haverford will also be challenged for the top spot by All-CC runners Alex Holtz of Muhlenberg, Paul Hugus of McDaniel and Thomas Rhodes of Dickinson as the trio placed fourth, sixth and seventh, respectively, last season.

The men’s 8,000-meter race begins at 11:00 a.m.