BETHLEHEM, PA. - The Niagara cross country teams participated in the 37th annual Brooks-Paul Short Run on Friday afternoon, with both the men's and women's teams clocking in with their best performance at the meet in the last three years. The men's team finished the "brown" race in a tie for 21st place of 40 teams, while the women's team finished the "brown" race in 28th place of 41 teams.

"Despite the sloppy conditions on the course, I'm happy with how we competed today," head cross country coach Tom Mulhern said. "Times may have not been the fastest, but we competed well and beat some MAAC teams that will give us momentum as we get closer to the MAAC Championship meet."

The men's team finished with 566 points, ahead of teams like Mount St. Mary's, Quinnipiac, St. Bonaventure and MAAC rivals Canisius and Siena. Senior Mike Trendell led Niagara for the fourth consecutive meet, finishing the 8k course in 28th place of 357 runners, while his time of 26:07 was tops amongst all MAAC runners in the race. Also scoring for Niagara was freshman Vincent Donner (26:50 - 92nd Place), freshman Sam Reedy (27:06 - 121st Place), senior Jason Fischer (27:18 - 146th Place) and senior Brian Traugott (27:41 - 179th Place).

The women's team finished with 759 points, ahead of teams like Hofstra, St. Bonaventure, Temple, and MAAC rivals Fairfield and Siena. Freshman Kim Vona led Niagara for the third time this season by finishing the 6k course in 31st place out of 387 runners in a time of 22:48, good for fifth place amongst MAAC runners in the race. Also scoring for Niagara was sophomore Nicole Mehlman (23:40 - 104th Place), sophomore Lindsey Phillips (24:15 - 166th Place), freshman Stephanie Schmidt (24:35 - 202nd Place) and sophomore Jessica Spellane (26:39 - 256th Place).

The Purple Eagles will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 16, when they take part in the Albany Invitational, their last tune-up before the 2010 MAAC Championship meet.