The Colby men’s and women’s cross country teams both had solid weekends at the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships held at Amherst College this past weekend. The women placed fifth overall, and the men placed 10th, their best finish at the meet since 2006.

Junior co-captain Berol Dewdney led the Mules with a sixth-place finish at the Championship. Dewdney finished the 3.8-mile course with a time of 23:01, 63 seconds behind the first-place finisher, Williams College’s Chiara Del Piccolo.

Junior Claire Dunn crossed the line second for the Mules, finishing in 27th place in 23:51, and first-year teammate Eva Lauer followed in 29th place three seconds later. Colby’s Layne Schwab ’13 and Kate Connolly ’14 also finished in the top-50 overall.

For her performance, Dewdney was named to the 2011 NESCAC Women’s Cross Country All-Conference First Team as well as the Maine All-State team. Thanks to Del Piccolo’s performance, Williams won the event with a team score of 34. Middlebury College, Amherst and Tufts University placed second, third and fourth, respectively, ahead of Colby.

After finishing in last place at the NESCAC Championship for the past four seasons, the Mules improved to 10th place this past weekend, just three points behind Hamilton College for ninth place and well ahead of 11th-place Trinity College.

First-year Ben Lester was the first Mule to finish the five-mile race, placing 54th in 27:30. First-year Charlie Coffman (57th place, 27:37), first-year Will McCarthy (60th, 27:42), senior Corey Park (64th, 27:45) and first-year Jeff Hale (68th, 27:49) rounded out a young top five for the Mules.

Williams placed first in the men’s race as well with a team score of 49, while Bates College and Bowdoin College tied for second with scores of 79.

Both cross country teams will race at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships at Williams this weekend in preparation for the New England Division III Championships at Bowdoin the weekend after.