The GW men’s and women’s cross country teams both placed sixth overall at the Atlantic 10 Championships in Philadelphia last weekend. The men fell short of their original team goal to be in the top five, although senior Darrell Andruski secured a coveted spot on the 2003 men’s all-conference team.

Last year, the women placed 10th and the men placed fifth at the conference meet. Junior Emily Jadwin said her squad was pleased with the improvement.

“We were very happy with our performance,” she said. “We feel we ran well and packed together to produce significant results.”

Led by season frontrunner freshman Bridget Skeuse (19:24.5), the GW women put together a total of 184 points. The University of Richmond won the meet for the first time in the program’s history.

Skeuse and juniors Erin Patton, Trina Bolton and Jadwin kept their pack as tight as they could throughout the race, finishing 17th, 31st, 40th and 41st, respectively, all with times under 20:05 for the five-kilometer race.

The men finished five places behind race-winner La Salle, whose top three runners placed third, fourth and fifth overall in the race, leading the Explorers to their third consecutive A-10 title.

The Colonials also compiled a total of 184 points, aided largely by their top two runners, seniors Andruski and Dave Azari. The pair placed sixth and 19th overall, respectively.

Andruski broke out of his role as GW’s second runner for the first time this season, when he sprinted in front of Azari and finished the eight-kilometer course in a time of 25:30.2. Azari, the men’s team captain, finished in 26:18.8.