Gracye Selig '11 sprinted ahead of University of New Hampshire senior Sydney Fitzpatrick at the end of the Albany University Invitational Saturday to win the 5-kilometer race by 3.8 seconds with a time of 17 minutes, 34.2 seconds. "I found myself in the perfect position to execute the plan," Selig said. "I was following Fitzpatrick for most of the race, and with about 600 meters left, I decided to go for it. . It was exciting to win, but I definitely wasn't expecting anything. My training has been going well, so it's great to see it paying off."

Selig propelled the women's team to a seventh-place finish out of a field of 22 teams, while the men's cross country team finished second of 25 teams.

Overall, the women's team had 173 points and an average time of 18 minutes, 55 seconds in the 5-kilometer race.

UNH won with 29 points and an average of 17:56.7 Middlebury College came in second with 85 points, and the hosting team the University of Albany had 88 points.

Kate Warwick '12 finished 14th with a time of 18:30.2. She said that she was very happy to keep up and finish with a pack of Middlebury runners because Middlebury is "the top Division III team in New England."

Selig spoke optimistically about her teammate.

"Warwick had a great race and undoubtedly should be in the mix come championship time," Selig said.

Erin Bisceglia '12 came in 41st with a time of 19:10.6 Hannah Lindkvist '14 placed 53rd with a time of 19:31.6, while Victoria Sanford '14 earned 64th with a time of 19:48.4.

Selig was pleased with how the team finished but said that the team could improve.

"We still have a way to go, but I think the team has the potential to surprise a lot of people," Selig said.

The men's team also ran in the meet, finishing second with 91 points and an average time of 25:49.0. The University of Albany, led by junior Paul Lagno's first-place finish with a time of 24:51.7, easily won the race.

Albany placed five runners among the top nine, totaling only 25 points.

Middlebury College had 129 points to earn third place, followed by Binghamton University's 169 points and Colgate University's 194 points.

Paul Norton '11 made his season debut for team, and he finished 11th with a time of 25:37.1.

"I certainly wasn't at my best, but for my first race back, it was pretty solid," Norton said. "I was glad we were able to pack it in really well as a team."

Norton also said that his Achilles injury, which had kept him out of action, is improving.

"It's pretty much fine," he said. "I'm still doing about half my training in the pool to avoid another flare-up, but I'm transitioning back to training 100 percent on land."

Five Judges finished in the top 25 in the race. Ed Colvin '14 finished 15th with a time of 25:43.6. Coach John Evans said that Colvin had "a breakout performance" last Saturday.

Chris Brown '12 ran in 25:49.5, finishing 19th, while Kerwin Vega '11 and Devon Holgate '11 finished the race in 25:53.0 and 26:01.6, finishing in 21st and 25th places, respectively.

The next meet for the men's and women's teams cross country teams is the University Athletic Association Championships, which will be held at New York University on Oct. 30.

Two weeks later are the NCAA Regionals at Williams College. After that, the teams will compete in the NCAA National Championship, which will be held at Wartburg College in Iowa.