On Friday afternoon, the mens and womens cross-country teams competed in the annual St. Michaels Invitational against Middlebury College, Lyndon State College and the host, St. Michaels College.

Both teams placed second in the invitational, finishing behind Middlebury College, and ahead of Saint Michaels and Lyndon State. The mens team finished with 65 points, and the womens team had 53 points.
The Catamounts were resting their top runners for the America East Championships two weeks from now.

For the mens 8k, UVM had five runners in the top 20, although the top 18 runners ran an incorrect route.
Leading the mens team, first-year Fletcher Hazlehurst (25:43.9) and Thomas OLeary (25:54) finished 12th and 13th respectively.

Vermonts top five included first-year Erik Buser (25:59), Dan Moroney (26:02), and Oliver Scofield (26:30), who all finished in the top 20. Rounding out Vermonts top seven runners were first-year Aaron Anderstrom (26:39) and junior Tucker Nixon (26:44), placing 21st and 23rd.
Vermonts adjusted team score for the mens team was 65 points.

The womens team fared a bit better, finishing with 53 points.

Two upperclassmen led Vermont in the womens 5K race. Senior Kathryn Martin (18:35) was 10th overall, while junior Valerie Moyer placed one second later at 18:36.

First-year Abby Hurd (18:52) and Jolie Navatka (18:53) crossed the finish line in 14th and 15th place.
The Catamounts had their top seven runners finish in the top-20 overall.

Rookie first-year Amber Peirsol (19:10.4), sophomore Sydney Durand (19:10.7), and first-year Hilary Rawding (19:20) placed 18th, 19th and 20th respectively.

Middlebury College won both the men and womens titles with 15 points in each contest.

UVM will next compete on Oct. 27; the University of New Hampshire will host the 2012 America East Championships at College Woods in Durham, N.H.