WINONA, Minn. — The weather was less than ideal, but that didn't slow the Saint Mary's University cross country teams, as the Cardinals turned in some of their best times of the year at the UW-Stout Invitational Friday.

Jim Baertsch (Winona, Minn.) — the Cardinals' leading runner in every meet a year ago — returned to that same form, posting a season-best time of 28:09 to finish 37th overall and lead the Cardinals to a 10th-place showing in the 14-team field.

Theresa Miller (New Berlin, Wis.) cruised to a time of 20:46 across the 5,000-meter Whitetail Golf Course setup to place 56th overall and lead the SMU women to a 14th-place showing in the 16-team women's field.

"The conditions were tough — it was a wet, blustery, cold day — but I was pleased with the way we ran," said SMU coach John Skemp. "Jim ran a great race — it was good to see him back in the thick of things. We had some good, tight running from our guys and the women had some real solid races."

Keith Pieschek (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) finished 46 seconds behind Baertsch to place 58th overall (28:55) — and was the first of five SMU runners to finish in a span of 43 seconds. Andy Boisjolie (Austin, Minn.) and B.J. Klenke (Jordan, Minn.) crossed the finish line together to place 61st (29:10.3) and 62nd (29:10.7), respectively, followed by Jim Bansley (Chicago, Ill. / 63rd, 29:11) and Andy Marter (Winona, Minn. / 29:38).

On the women's side, Renee Willkom (Cadott, Wis.) placed 67th in 20:54, followed by Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn. / 88th, 21:10), Jenny Folgers (Johnsburg, Ill. / 116th, 21:47), Natalie Cossetta (West St. Paul, Minn. / 125th, 21:59) and Erin Ida (Baraboo, Wis. / 156th, 22:46).

"Everyone ran well, especially considering the wet conditions," Skemp said. "But there's still plenty of room for improvement. We've got three good training weeks left before the MIAC, so, hopefully, we'll be healthy and at our peak for that race."