WINONA, Minn. — The course was the same, but the times were better — much better for the Saint Mary's University men's cross country team at the SMU Invitational Saturday afternoon.

After opening the season with an impressive showing in their first invitational last Saturday, the Cardinals turned in an even better showing this time around. Six of SMU's top seven men's runners covered the five-mile course in less time en route to a third-place finish in the five-team SMU Invitational II.

Mankato State won the event with 15 points, while Luther was second (45) and SMU was third (89). A team of Cardinal alumni placed fourth (114), while Winona State was fifth (133).

"The men had a great effort," said SMU coach John Skemp. "Our top four runners had huge improvements over their times from a week ago, and to have just a 21-second spread between our top four runners, that's outstanding."

The time-drop wasn't as drastic on the women's side, but the Cardinals still turned in a strong performance, finishing second to champion Luther in the three-team invitational. Luther boasted the top seven runners en route to its 15 points, while SMU finished second with 62 and Winona State was third at 63.

"That was a big win over Winona State," Skemp said of the Cardinals' one-point edge over their cross-town rivals. "We knew coming in that it was going to be a tight race, and our runners did just an outstanding job."

Keith Peischek (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) and Andy Boisjolie (Austin, Minn.) were once again the Cardinals' leaders, placing 15th and 16th, respectively, with four-mile times of 24:05 and 24:15. And as close as the two were, the rest of the SMU team wasn't far behind. Jim Baertsch (Winona, Minn.) took 18th in 24:24, while B.J. Klenke (Jordan, Minn.) was 19th (24:26), Andy Marter (Winona, Minn.) was 21st (25:23), Karl Hatteberg (Blooming Prairie, Minn.) was 23rd (25:51) and Pat Polasek (Glendale Heights, Ill.) was 26th (27:33).

Theresa Miller (New Berlin, Wis.) led the way for the SMU women's team, placing eighth overall with a time of 21:42. Renee Willkom (Cadott, Wis.) was 16th (22:25), while Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) and Daysha Schliep (Holyoke, Colo.) were 18th (22:35) and 19th (22:40), respectively. Jenny Folgers (Johnsburg, Ill.) placed 22nd (22:58), while Natalie Cossetta (West St. Paul, Minn. / 34th, 24:10) and Emilee Conley (Fennimore, Wis. / 49th, 25:39) rounded out the SMU top seven.

"There were a lot of solid efforts, and that's good to see at this stage in the season," Skemp said. "The big key now is keeping everyone heathy and to just keeping plugging along."