LONDON, Ont. - The Sheridan Bruins cross country teams returned to Southwestern Ontario for a second straight weekend and posted positive results in a deep Bill Salter International field that featured several top U Sports and some NCAA teams. 

"It was a good eye opener for us," head coach Danny Webster said. "Everyone ran much faster than last week, some improving by as much as two minutes. Overall I'm happy with our fitness level at this point in the season - we were not this fast at this point last year."

The women's team placed 13th, a single point behind Ryerson and ahead of Olivet College, an NCAA Division III school from Michigan. There was a small contingent of OCAA competition in the field, with Fanshawe posting a 10th place finish. The Bruins managed to out-pace Humber (who didn't bring enough runners to qualify a team score) with an average top-four finish of 87th place, while the Hawks averaged 91st. 

Meanwhile the men's team placed a respectable 15th, with a top-10 that featured five of the U Sports top-10 teams and one NCAA Division I team (Eastern Michigan). Compared to their OCAA counterparts, they fared well, finishing five points shy of Humber and seven points adrift of Fanshawe.

Webster says a key element in the success of both teams was the performance of Yonta Gillespie (26:57) and Quinn Middleton (28:13).

"They were both strong fourth place finishers on our team," he said. "A lot of the time cross country boils down to the fourth runner on the team. If Yonta and Quinn keep running this well, our team will continue to improve throughout the season." 

After racing in back-to-back weeks, the team will take two weeks off from competition and will next run in the Centennial Invitational on Oct. 13.