On Saturday, Oct. 13, the Wesleyan men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Amherst for the annual Little Three Cross Country Championships. On the men’s side, Williams entered the race as the runaway favorites, having captured the title 24 years running. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Ephs extended their win streak to a quarter of a century as they finished with 23 points to Amherst’s 46 and Wesleyan’s 61. On the women’s side, the Purple Cows of Williamstown proved to be just as formidable as their male bovine brethren, as they won their fifth title in as many years by accumulating 24 points, while Amherst finished with 45 and Wesleyan with 70.

Wesleyan’s premier harrier Bryan Marsh ’13 completed the muddy 8K course in 26:16.1, just 4.3 seconds behind the first place finisher from Williams. Skyler Cummins ’13 was second in scoring for Wesleyan, finishing seventh overall with a time of 26:41.5. Rounding out the top five for Wesleyan were Austin Cotant ’13 at 27:24.1, Taylor Titcomb ’16 at 27:30.0, and Sam Roth ’13 at 28:07.2. While Marsh and Cummins seem destined to advance as individuals beyond the NESCAC Championships on Oct. 27, the rest of the team members will have to pick up their stride if they wish to continue running into November.

For the women, Julia Mark ’13 assumed her usual position atop the race leaderboard, finishing the 5K course third overall with a time of 19:13.1. The next Wesleyan scorer arrived at the finish line nearly a full minute later, but only 13 seconds separated the Cardinal’s second and fifth runner. Ceili Brennan ’13 led the rest of the Wes pack with a time of 20:01.3, followed by Jessica Sherry ’13 at 20:09.5, Nellie Triedman ’13 at 20:11.0, and Hannah Zimmerman ’13 at 20:13.7. The women have had an impressive season thus far, and despite the somewhat disappointing finish on Saturday, the team has a legitimate chance for success at the NESCAC Championships.