CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The Axewomen cross country team opened the AUS regular season with fourth-place team finish this past weekend at UPEI.

Third year runner Madalyn Higgins was the top finisher of the event with a ninth-place finish among AUS competitors in the women's 5km race with a time of 19:57.00.

Acadia's Chrissy Smith, Michelle MacDonald and Sarah Lavallee finished 21st, and 23rd and 24th respectively.

Last season's top runner for the Axewomen, Katie Robinson, was unable to run this past weekend due to injury. Chrissy Smith is recovering from a previous injury.

Head coach Ralph Williams was optimistic for this Saturday's race at StFX.

"It wasn't our best performance. Despite all of the deficiencies, we still pulled off a third placing. We have to collect ourselves and get focused for the future races if we want to make a challenge to the front," noted Williams.

The Axewomen will regroup for this coming weekend's second race of the season at StFX on Saturday starting at Noon.