Competing undermanned due to injuries and illness, the nationally ranked No. 13 men's cross country team pulled off a fourth-place finish at the UMass-Dartmouth Shriner's Invitational last Friday. The Judges were only able to compete with five runners yet still managed to outrun much of the competition, most of whom were using eight contestants. Brandeis finished behind only regionally ranked No. 7 Keene State College, nationally ranked Division II No. 13 Stonehill College and nationally ranked No. 27 the University of Southern Maine.The women's side was not so different: The Judges competed with only seven runners yet still pulled off a second-place finish out of 42 teams. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology won the invitational on the women's side.

"It was a great weekend," coach John Evans said. "We had a smaller team going out, but we opened up better and we started significantly better, than we ever have."

This was the first tournament of the year for either team, which had only run a small head-to-head meet against Bentley College Sept. 4.

The men's team was led by Paul Norton '11, who finished the five-mile course third overall and second among Division III runners with a time of 24 minutes, 43 seconds. Norton's time was a full 25 seconds faster than the one he ran at this event last season, in which he barely missed being named an All-American.

Chris Brown '12 was the second Judge to cross the finish line, closing out the five-mile course in 25:20. Marc Boutin '12 was next, with a time of 25:30. The two finished in 13th and 24th place, respectively.

Devon Holgate '11 was the next Brandeis runner to finish, coming in 29th place with a time of 25:34. This was his first varsity race after missing his first two seasons with injury and illness.

"[Holgate] ran a great race," Boutin said.

Evans added to Boutin's remarks, saying that this was "an awesome way for [Holgate] to start."

Sam Donovan '11 finished in 48th place with a time of 26:07, struggling because of illness. Evans said that Donovan "was running very under the weather, which probably added at least 30 seconds to his time." Dan Anastos '11 was also sick and was forced to drop out of the race before reaching the finish line.

Three of the team's top runners were kept out of the meet because of injuries. Kerwin Vega '11 and Zack Schwartz '11, who had the fourth and fifth best performances at the Division III Championships last year, were both held out for minor injuries. Alex Kramer '13 was also unable to run with a minor hip injury.

"We lost a few key people to injury, so this weekend was more about seeing where the team was," Boutin said.

All three have been practicing and are expected back within two weeks.

For the women's team, Grayce Selig '11 again paced the squad by turning in the team's best time for the second consecutive meet. Selig finished the 5,000-meter course in 18:42 to earn eighth place overall. In the team's first meet at Bentley College, Selig's time of 15:45 led the pack of 11 Judges who finished the race first.

Kate Warwick '12 and Marie Lemay '11 also had top finishes, completing the race in 12th and 13th place, respectively, with times of 18:32 and 18:36. Alyssa Pisarik '12 and Ally Connolly '10 rounded out the five Judges who finished in the top 25 with 17th- and 25th-place finishes, respectively. Pisarik had a time of 18:47, while Connolly had a time of 19:07.

The two remaining runners, Beth Pisarik '10 and Hannah Lindholm '11, finished in 38th and 39th place, respectively, as they crossed the finish line just one second apart from each other.

Both teams will attempt to build off of their successes from last week at the Connecticut College Invitational Saturday at 10 a.m.