WINONA, Minn. — With their season nearing the halfway point, Saint Mary's University cross country coach John Skemp was looking for some major improvements when his Cardinals took to the trails at the Ripon Invitational last Saturday.

And improvements he got.

The SMU women's team, led once against by Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) and Renee Willkom (Cadott, Wis.), placed second in the 11-team field, while the Cardinal men, fueled by Keith Pieschek (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) and Jim Baertsch (Winona, Minn.), finished third among the 13 teams competing.

Koranda toured the five-kilometer course in 19:32 to place fourth overall, while Willkom was close behind, posting a time of 19:39 to finish fifth. Tera Bollig (Cambridge, Minn.) added a 10th-place time of 20:22, with Natalie Cossetta (West St. Paul, Minn. / 15th, 20:44) and Keri Drake (Sturgeon Bay, Wis. / 18th, 21:00) rounding out the Cardinals' top five.

"The women ran another awesome race," said Skemp. "Ellen and Renee both had phenomenal races — it's been a long time since we had times under 20 (minutes) for a 5K, so that was good to see.

"The guys did a nice job, too," continued Skemp. "Keith had a real good race, and the rest of the group improved their times, which was good."

For the first time this season, Pieschek was the SMU men's top finisher, clocking a time of 29:11 to place 11th overall. Baertsch, the team's top runner in each of the Cardinals' first three races, was the second SMU runner across the finish line, posting a time of 29:53 for 16th overall. Andy Boisjolie (Austin, Minn. / 18th, 30:11), Karl Hatteberg (Waltham, Minn. / 21st, 30:29) and Jim Bansley (Chicago, Ill. / 22nd, 30:38) rounded out the top five.

"We've still got a lot of races left in October," said Skemp. "Hopefully, we can keep improving."