The men's cross country team finished second out of 34 schools, while the women's cross country team placed fourth out of 37 schools in both teams' first scoring meet of the season at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth Shriners' Invitational last Saturday.

"It was a really good start to the season," said coach John Evans. "We probably haven't been as sharp as in previous years, so it was really encouraging to see everyone run well."

The men's team, which is ranked No. 33 nationally and No. 7 in New England, according to the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, finished with 79 points in the 8-kilometer race, which trailed only the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT is currently ranked No. 11 nationally and No. 2 in the New England Region.

For the Judges, co-captains Chris Brown '12 and Marc Boutin '12 both finished in the top 10 out of 255 runners. Brown placed fourth with a time of 24 minutes, 56.74 seconds, while Boutin was the tenth runner overall to cross the finish line in 25:11.99.

"I am happy with how I performed yesterday," Boutin said. "I didn't race all summer, and we kind of took an easier approach to workouts this year. Based off this postseason, we are poised to run well in the postseason like we really want to."

Taylor Dundas '14 finished 13th overall at the 45:19.73 mark, while Alex Kramer '13 came in 26th, finishing in 25:43.70. Ed Colvin '14 was the last Judges' runner to complete the race, placing 32nd with a time of 25:57.19.

Overall, Boutin thought the men's team ran well in its first meet of the season.

"I feel like as a team, yesterday, we performed really well together," Boutin said. "It was our first race of the season, and we were racing against some tough teams, and we all worked off each other really well and ended up running a really good race."

For the women, the team finished with 148 points, which trailed first-place finisher MIT, the United States Coast Guard and Wellesley College. MIT is ranked No. 5 nationally and No. 3 in the New England Region, while Wellesley is No. 7 in the New England Region. The Brandeis women currently are No. 10 in the region.

Co-captain Kate Warwick '12 paced the women's team, finishing second out of 258 runners in the 5-kilometer race in 17:58.39. She finished 4.04 seconds behind MIT sophomore Brook Johnson.

"[Warwick] ran great and almost pulled off the victory," Evans said. "She's been battling this year, and her goal is to be All-American in cross country."

Amelia Lundkvist '12 was the second Judges runner to finish the race, finishing 22nd in 19:20.58. Miriam Stulin '15 placed 26th in 19:23.45, while Victoria Sanford '14 finished 39th with a time of 19:44.04.

Monique Girard '12 rounded out the women's team's runners, crossing the finish line in 64th in 20:15.55.

With the first meet in the books, Evans wants both of his teams to keep working toward the University Athletic Association Championships and the NCAA Regional Championships, with the goal to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships.

"We just want to keep progressing toward UAAs and Regionals," Evans said. "The guys have gone to NCAAs for the last 3 years, and along with Williams [College], we have been only one of two teams to do that, so we want to go for a fourth straight year. For the women, it is a little bit of a rebuilding year, but we just want to get stronger every week and have some strong performances going into UAA and Regionals."

Both cross country teams will next race at the Open New England Championships on Oct. 8 at Franklin Park in Boston.