GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Northern Arizona men and women's cross country teams finished in the top five at the NCAA Championships pre-national meet Saturday, the women taking fifth and the men third.

The pre-national meet was an exclusive meet broken up into two evenly competitive races on the women and men's sides. NAU competed in the men’s "black" and women’s "purple” race.

Travis Laird paced the Lumberjack men to the finish, placing 8th overall, for his first win this season. Laird ran 24 minutes, 46 seconds on the 8,000-meter course. Laird was followed by teammate Bruno Mazzotta in 14th (25:01), Juwan Nuvayokva, 26th (25:16), Henrik Ahnstrom, 29th (25:18) and Tyler Williams in 59th (25:46). The 8th-ranked men's team defeated top-25 opponents Colorado State (11), Michigan State (16), Brigham Young (17), Oregon (18), Alabama (21) and Georgetown (22).

The women will move up in the rankings thanks to individual finishers Ida Nillsson, who finished 6th-place overall (21:28) for her third-consecutive win. Nillsson was followed by Susie Rutherford who placed 17th (21:50), Jinny Hanifan, 21st (21:55), Erika Edwards, 64th (22:33), and Jodie Denike, 121 (23:18). The 21st-ranked Lumberjacks defeated top-25 opponents Boston University (17), UCLA (18) and Cornell, (20).

"I was particularly pleased with the way the teams ran in this competition”, said NAU head coach Ron Mann. "Beating Duke, Cornell and UCLA were huge improvements for the rankings on the women's side. Our top three had great races. The women finishing fifth and men third are remarkable performances. I am very pleased with both squads."

NAU is at home for the next two weeks to prepare for the Big Sky Conference Championships.