Antigonish, NS – The StFX X-Women and X-Men ran to first place finishes at the StFX Invitational on their home course Saturday afternoon. 

The X-Women garnered 25 points with five runners in the top ten, bettering second place Acadia who had 42 points. Moncton rounded out the team scoring with 71. 

Acadia's Katie Robinson was the overall race winner, finishing the 6k course in a time of 22:43.99. StFX's Zoe Johnston was second at 23:06.65, with Moncton's Carol-Ann MacDonald placing third at 23:19.46.  

"Katie is a lot more fit this year. Madalyn (Higgins) didn't have her best race but still placed sixth. Chrissy (Smith) moved up 12 places from the first race last week to 10th and the rookies are adapting to the pretty intense training program that the team is doing to get ready for the AUS and USPORT Championships," noted Acadia head coach Ralph Williams on his assessent of the team's results.

Rounding out the top five runners were Hana Marmura (23:23.00) and Jane Hergett (23:33.95), both from the StFX X-Women. 

The race featured a field of 42 AUS runners from nine schools: StFX, Acadia, Moncton, UNB, UPEI, Memorial, UNB, Saint Mary's and St. Thomas.  

In the men's 8k race, the StFX runners claimed four spots amongst the top ten finishers as they finished with 22 points. Memorial placed second with 37, followed by Moncton with 74. 

X-Men teammates Alex Neuffer and Paul MacLellan came first and second, respectively, with times of 26:41.47 and 27:33.59. Neuffer opened up a lead early on in the race and was not challenged for the win. 

UNB's Michael Colford was third overall, finishing at 27.43.23, with his teammate Isaac Cull close behind at 27:43.48. Memorial's Levi Moulton rounded out the top five at 28:01.34. A total of 38 AUS racers competed, representing StFX, UNB, Memorial, UPEI, Dalhousie, Saint Mary's, St. Thomas, Moncton and Saint Mary's.  

Next on the AUS schedule is the UNB/STU interlock meet scheduled for Saturday, October 6th in Fredericton.