WINONA, Minn. — Obviously, the long ride in a coach bus didn't seem to have any effect on them.

Nor did the sea of unfamiliar faces among their competitors.

Or the unfamiliar course.

In fact, the Saint Mary's University cross country teams seemed right at home — even though they were miles and miles away from the friendly confines of the SMU campus.

Despite running on a course they had never seen before, against teams they may never compete against again, the Cardinals turned in a rather impressive showing at the New York University Invitational Saturday, as the SMU women were 13th among the 27-team field, while the SMU men finished 16th in the field of 26.

"This was a very good meet for the women," said SMU coach John Skemp, whose top four female finishers — led by Theresa Miller (New Berlin, Wis.) and Renee Willkom (Cadott, Wis.) were all within 22 seconds of each other. "They ran well as a group and posted some really nice times."

Miller led the way for the SMU women, placing 45th overall with a time of 26:47. Willkom was close behind, placing 54th in 27:01, while Daysha Schliep (Holyoke, Colo.) was 60th (27:08) and Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) was 63rd (27:10).

On the men's side, the Cardinals were led by Keith Pieschek (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) and B.J. Klenke (Jordan, Minn.), who finished 85th (29:49) and 88th (29:52), respectively. Andy Boisjolie (Austin, Minn.) finished 11th in 30:20, while Andy Marter (Winona, Minn.) posted a time of 30:59 to take 137th and Jim Baertsch (Winona, Minn.) rounded out SMU's top five with a time of 31:47 for 155th.

"It's always nice once a year to get out and compete against some teams you haven't seen before," said Skemp. "Overall, it was a good trip, we had some people turn in some very good times, and it was a great experience."