Arm bandaged and blood stains on his uniform, Conor McGinty hopped off a trainer’s table with little more than a shrug of his shoulders.

Salisbury’s freshman was unfazed by a fall during last week’s Colonial League Cross Country Championships at DeSales University, one that resulted in McGinty needing stitches.

But McGinty is a tough kid.

Just like the rest of the Falcons.

“He’s a phenomenal human being,” said Salisbury head coach Terry Bruns. “He still has next week. And then he goes to hockey after every cross country practice. He never misses practice. He doesn’t want a break unless it’s time to taper. Phenomenal kid. It’s contagious.

“We’ve experience both ends of that spectrum, and to see the difference, it renews your hope in the human spirit, in that, yes you can get down, I can get down, but you still have a responsibility to put forth a positive attitude and lift each other up because the alternative is no good.”

Despite the fall, McGinty ran to a 40th-place finish with a time of 20:09 to pace the team.

“It was tough,” he said. “I was hoping to get sub-20:00, but I think falling down kept me from getting that.

“I did want to be top runner (on the team), so I was hoping to hit the first mile around 5:30, which I did get.”

McGinty is no stranger to overcoming a little bit of adversity in his athletic career.

“I have had something similar happen, but not in a race,” he said. “I play hockey, but something like that happened. And that happened like five months ago. It hurt my preparation for the season a little. I was out for two weeks, but nothing serious.

“I don’t really think about it.”

Andrew Grejda placed 53rd (20:53), while Michael Heitzer was 55th (21:17). Nolan Grejda crossed the line in 65th with a time of 21:56, and Ian Young recorded a 69th-place finish in 22:21.

“He and Michael Heitzer have been friends for a long time, and they play hockey together,” said Bruns. “Conor has been with us since middle school, and Michael just joined us. And the two of them together, with that positive workhorse attitude ... they work hard in school, they work hard at practice, and then they go to hockey. And then they’re gone all weekend long at a tournament for hockey. Or they’re out running.

“It’s positive for everyone. And it’s not just them, the team is good, because that’s what’s being fed into it, that energy. It’s a gift.”

Stuart Carl (22:57, 75th), Thomas Lovelidge (23:04, 77th), Louis Mongulitz (23:52, 81st) and Joseph Tiao (26:47, 93rd) rounded out the Salisbury contingent.

“Today’s race was OK. It wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t the best,” said Lovelidge. “The hills definitely got to me, along with the heat. We’ve been here before, and I wanted to attack the hills, because I knew there were a lot of them during the race. But it just didn’t work out. It was just a lot.

“I’ll definitely be more prepared for next year, and hopefully I can improve and do better.”

After going 6-18 this year, the boys were 10th in the team standings with 253 points.

Salisbury will return to DeSales this week for the District 11 Cross Country Championships.

“We’ll be back here next week, and we’ll know what to expect, we know what’s going to happen,” Andrew Grejda said. “We should all do better as a team and individually, so I just can’t wait for that.”

Bruns echoed that sentiment.

“Just kudos to everyone for even making it to this point,” she said. “We have no seniors, two freshmen, a bunch of sophomores who are up-and-coming, and then our juniors. It’s a nice mix. They’ve been a joy to work with.”