Despite not having a runner finish in the top 50, the men's cross country team finished 16th out of 32 teams at the NCAA Division III Championships at Wartburg College in Iowa on Saturday. It was the team's best finish since 1998, after finishing 24th the previous year. Coach John Evans was happy with his team's performance. "We're pleased with the way we finished up," he said.

On a sunny but chilly day, captain Paul Norton '11 finished in 25 minutes, 17.3 seconds, good for 70th place. Norton, who finished seventh at last season's NCAA Championship, was disappointed with his result. "Individually, it couldn't have been much worse, but the training just hasn't been there," he said.

Evans blamed Norton's performance on his Achilles heel injury, which has been nagging him all year. "Obviously Norton [has] had trouble in the beginning of this year, so he wasn't 100 percent," he said, adding that despite the injury, "he got out of bed and ran with the team."

Chris Brown '12 finished in 25:25.3, good for 94th place, while Marc Boutin '12 ran a 25:29.2 to grab 107th. Kerwin Vega '11 ran in 25:41.4, with Devon Holgate '11 finishing 6.6 seconds later, good for 138th and 152nd places. Ed Colvin '14 finished 1.2 seconds and nine places after Holgate, and Dan Anastos '11 ended his career with a time of 26:08.0, finishing in 197th.

Haverford College won with 87 points and an average time of 24:43.5 North Central College of Illinois was second, followed by Saint Lawrence University. Brandeis was third among University Athletic Association teams, as Washington University in St. Louis and New York University placed ninth and 10th, respectively.

Haverford senior Anders Hulleberg won the individual championship with a time of 24:22.2 in a tight finish, as he defeated University of Saint Thomas junior Ben Sathre.

Evans said that the team's seniors were a key part of the squad's success this season. "Our seniors have done a great job the past few years," he said. "[Norton]'s had a great 4 years of running cross country and he's really stepped up. When he came here we were, 16th in the region, and now we've gone to two NCAAs, we're one of two teams to do that in the last 2 years."

Despite losing Norton, Anastos and the rest of the senior class, Evans said that he expects more from next year's team. "We have one of the top teams in the country," he said. "Hopefully we can build on that over the next few years. We expect to go back [to NCAAs] and be even better. . We've got two really good freshmen, Colvin, who ran this weekend, and Taylor Dundas '14." Dundas has been sick the last few weeks, and was unable to compete.

Despite qualifying for the race, Grayce Selig '11 was unable to compete.

The indoor track season begins Dec. 4 at the Northeastern Husky Invitational.