Colby men’s and women’s cross country each competed at Williams College this past weekend for the Purple Valley Classic. The men placed 11th out of 16 teams, and the women earned seventh place out of 16. A second men’s team competed at a meet at Unity College, winning the meet as eight Mules placed in the top 10.

Captain Brian Desmond ’13 was Colby’s top runner of the day, placing 53rd out of 197 runners. Desmond finished with a time of 27:56.59 on the eight-kilometer course. Fordham University’s Julian Saad won the meet with a time of 26:13.27.

Other notable Mule finishers included Ben Lester ’15 (77th, 28:44.72), Matthieu Nadeau ’12 (82nd, 28:44.72), Will McCarthy ’15 (85th, 28:46.99) and Paco DeFrancis ’14 (86th, 28:47.65). Williams won the meet, with fellow New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) competitors Middlebury College and Amherst College placing third and sixth, respectively.

Colby won the Unity meet by defeating Maine Maritime Academy, Unity, Thomas College and the University of Maine at Machias. Will Supple ’12, Noland Dumont ’15, Seth Gilbane ’15, Sean Madigan ’15, David White ’15, Chase Hammond ’12 and Kevin Clarke ’14 all placed in the top 10.

On the women’s side, Berol Dewdney ’13 was Colby’s top runner with a time of 23:17, good for 17th place of 202 runners. Amherst College’s Keri Lambert ’13 won the meet with a time of 22 minutes even, the only runner to break a six-minute mile average on the six-kilometer course.

Eva Lauer ’15 placed 22nd with a time of 23:20. Claire Dunn (58th place, 24:27), Layne Schwab (59th, 24.28), Kate Connoly (60th, 24.29) and Sophie Weaver (63rd, 24:39) rounded out the top five for Colby. Middlebury won the meet, and the Williams women placed second in their home meet.

Both teams will next compete at the Bowdoin College Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 1.