The University of Mary Washington women's cross country team, ranked eighth in the Atlantic South Region, won first place at the St. Mary's College Invitational on Saturday in Southern Maryland. The Eagle men, who are ranked ninth regionally, finished second in the men's event.

"We had a very good early season showing for both of our teams", said UMW head coach Kunle Lawson. "Everyone went out and competed hard and saw where we stack up against most of the rest of the conference. I'm excited for the rest of the season."

Senior Lauren Braney led the Eagle women by placing first overall with a time of 23:55. Claudia Autore finished third overall at 24:24, followed by Emily Knerr in fourth at 24:33, Sam Park in fifth at 24:39, and Victoria Parent in sixth at 24:41. Jillian Weisbeck was eighth at 24:46, and Amanda Patterson finished ninth at 24:47.

The Eagle women finished with 19 points, followed by Salisbury University in second with 58, Catholic in third with 100, followed by Marymount, St. Mary's, Wesley, Anne Arundel CC, and NOVA CC.

The men saw junior Ben Sorenson finish first overall at 26:22. He was followed by Ian Granger in third at 26:48, JP Burklow in ninth at 27:27, Chris Anderson in 13th at 27:56, Chris Markham in 15th at 28:05, and Sean Miller in 19th place at 28:16.

Salisbury won the men's race with 24 points, followed by the Eagles with 38, York with 91, St. Mary's with 136, and Frostburg State, Marymount, Southern Maryland, and Wesley.

Both teams will return to action on October 2 when they compete at the Paul Short Invitational in Pennsylvania.