NORTHFIELD, Minn. — After back-to-back meets the first two weekends of the season, Saint Mary's University cross country coach John Skemp gave his teams last weekend off — not off of training, but off of competition.

And it showed — in a very good way.

The Cardinals turned in some of their best performances of the season Saturday afternoon, as the SMU men's team posted a ninth-place finish at the 14-team St. Olaf Invitational, while the SMU women placed 11th in a field of 19 teams.

Jim Baertsch (Winona, Minn.) and Keith Pieschek (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinal men, touring the eight-kilometer course in times of 29:39 and 29:40, respectively. Not far behind were teammates Andy Boisjolie (Austin, Minn.) and Karl Hatteberg (Waltham, Minn.) who posted identical times of 30:18 to round out the Cardinals' top four.

On the women's side, Renee Willkom (Cadott, Wis.) crossed the finish line first, recording a 6K time of 24:24. Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) was close behind in 24:31, while Tera Bollig (Cambridge, Minn.) and Keri Drake (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) chipped in times of 25:37 and 26:24, respectively, to complete SMU's top four finishers.