ST. PAUL, Minn. — John Skemp figured there was an outside chance that his Saint Mary's University cross country teams could make a sizable leap up the conference standings at the MIAC Championships Saturday at Como Golf Course.

To do that, however, the Cardinals would have to run a picture-perfect race.

Saturday's performances were good, but not perfect as SMU settled for 11th place finishes in both the men's and women's races.

Keith Pieschek (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinal men, placing 51st overall with an eight-kilometer time of 28:03. Jim Baertsch (Winona, Minn.) chipped in a time of 28:53, good for 69th, while B.J. Klenke (Jordan, Minn.) was close behind, taking 70th in 29:00. Karl Hatteberg (Bloomington Prairie, Minn.) was 74th (29:25), followed closely by Andy Marter (Winona, Minn. / 75th, 29:26), Andy Boisjolie (Austin, Minn. / 76th, 29:40) and Patrick Polasek (Glendale Heights, Ill. / 77th, 30:55).

On the women's side, Renee Willkom (Cadott, Wis.) led the Cardinals' charge, placing 57th in 20:55. Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) was 58th (20:56), followed by Theresa Miller (New Berlin, Wis. / 60th, 21:05), Daysha Schliep (Holyoke, Colo / 65th, 21:33), Jenny Folgers (Johnsburg, Ill. / 69th, 21:53), Natalie Cossetta (West St. Paul, Minn. / 74th, 22:03) and Emilee Conley (Fennimore, Wis. / 79th, 22:54).