ROMEOVILLE, Ill.— Kirstin Williams placed amongst the top 10 percent of the women's finishers to lead the Colorado Mesa University women's cross country team to a 17^th place finish amongst 33 teams at Saturday morning's Lewis Crossover Invitational.
 
The Utah Tech transfer finished the 6-kilometer course in 21 minutes, 56.7 seconds and placed 27^th in the field of more than while Megan Hodges also recorded a solid 72^nd place with a time of 22:42.8 as the Mavs posted a team score of 495 points, 69 of which were from Hodges.
 
Hodges' time was more than two minutes faster than her previous collegiate-6K best of 24:54.6.
 
Meanwhile, the Maverick men recorded a score of 508 points to finish 20^th out of 31 teams as Triston Charles led CMU with a 42^nd place time of 24:54.9 on the 8K course.  Chase Brown, 93^th in 25:20.7 and Kevin DeGree, 96^th in 25:22.8 also cracked the top 100 of the men's standings.
 
The Maverick women finished higher than two other teams that were ranked amongst the top 10 of their respective regions in the overall field, which also included ten nationally-ranked teams.  Atlantic Region No. 5 Edinboro was 19^th while East Region No. 2 Southern Connecticut State finished 22^nd.
 
Kendall White was the Mavs' third of eighth finishers in 23:14.3.  She placed 119^th overall and scored 107 team points.  True freshman Autumn McQuitty (163^rd, 23:37.9) and redshirt freshman Kate Linstedt (172^nd, 23:46.2) rounded out the Mavs' team score and were responsible for 142 and 150 points towards the Mavs' final team score.
 
The other three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams in the field all finished amongst the top 8 as No. 3 Mines took the meet with a score of 49 points after placing five runners in the top 12.  Top-ranked Grand Valley State finished second with 98 while the host and 16^th-ranked Flyers finished third with 138, edging national poll No. 4 Winona State, which finished fourth with 138 as the Warriors' Lindsay Cunningham won the individual title in 20:06.8, nearly a minute ahead of teammate Kaylee Byer, who took second in 21:02.9.
 
Ninth-ranked Colorado Christian was fifth with 196 while Fort Lewis placed eighth with 243 points as the top non-ranked team in the field but ahead of No. 23 Wayne State (Mich.) and No. 26 Saginaw Valley State.
 
The men's field also included eight nationally-ranked teams as defending national champion and top-ranked Mines won the meet with 34 points while RMAC rival Colorado Christian, ranked fifth in the nation, was second with 77 points.  The Cougars' Matthew Storer won a tight individual race in 23:46.7 while Mines' Duncan Fuehne was second three second back.
 
Fort Lewis finished eighth.
 
The Mavs had ten men's finishers, including Nate Sanches, who finished 138^th in 25:45.6 while Jacob Dalrymple took 166^th in 26:04.3, just ahead of teammates Drexel Cox, who was clocked in the same time to finish 167^th.  Ricky Diaz was the next finisher in 26:04.6.
 
The Mavs will continue their season in two weeks (Oct. 21), when they will compete at the RMAC Championships at Washington Park in Denver.