Led by Paul Norton's '11 and Grayce Selig's '11 top-three finishes, the men's and women's cross country teams placed fourth and sixth, respectively, at the University Athletic Association Championship last Saturday.The race was held at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y. and was hosted by New York University, which had won the previous five men's UAA championships.

Washington University in St. Louis won both the men's and women's races.

Norton paced the men's team, placing third in his final UAA Cross Country Championships. The 8K race came down to the wire, with Norton finishing only 1.83 seconds behind WashU junior Michael Burnstein and just 1.16 seconds behind New York University junior Andrew Zitek.

Norton beat out WashU senior Dave Spandofer by 0.71 seconds to grab the third spot on the podium.

"It was a really close kick with the four of us, and I just don't quite have the wheels right now for a fast kick," Norton said.

It was only Norton's second meet of the season, as an Achilles' tendon injury had kept him out of action until the University of Albany Invitational just 2 weeks before. Norton said that "it definitely didn't affect my performance," adding, "it was a big step for me from two weeks ago."

Norton's time of 25 minutes, 42.01 seconds was still a significant improvement over his time of 26:19.80 at last year's UAA Championships, which he came in second.

"Paul is really coming along," Coach John Evans said. "The team as a whole did great."

Overall, the men's team placed four runners in the top 25 at the meet. Kerwin Vega '11 came in 15th with a time of 26:07.15. Chris Brown '12 placed 22nd with a time of 26:20.59.

Ed Colvin '14 finished less than three seconds later, good for 24th. Dan Anastos '11 rounded out the scoring with a 28th place finish.

Colvin received Rookie of the Year honors. "[Colvin] has had a really great season" Evans said.

Brandeis' 92 points were good for fourth place overall, finishing behind WashU, NYU and third place Carnegie Mellon University.

University of Rochester finished fifth with 113 points, followed by the University of Chicago with 137, Case Western Reserve University with 158 and Emory University with 256 points.

The women's squad was paced, as they have been all season, by Selig, who grabbed second place with a time of 21:30.97. Chicago senior Liz Lawton finished first with a time of 21:16.02.

"I was pretty happy with the way my race went," Selig said. "The girl from University of Chicago is a great runner, and so it was encouraging to have stayed with her as long as I did."

Selig improved her time by a full 3 minutes from last year's UAAs, when she placed 20th. "[Selig] ran phenomenally. She's really come along from this time last year," Evans said.

Marie Lemay '11 finished 23rd with a time of 23:02.98. Kate Warwick '12 placed 37th in 23:42.68. Erin Bisceglia '12 placed 38th with a time of 23:52.46. Hannah Lindholm '11 placed 41st in 24:00.06.

Overall, Evans thought the women's team could have performed better in the meet.

"The rest of the women's team didn't do as well," Evans said, adding, "We hit some bumps."

The men's and women's teams will next compete in the NCAA Regional Championships in two weeks, which will be held at Williams College.