The men's and women's cross country teams went their separate ways on Sept. 28 -29, traveling to the Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minn., and to the Iona Meet of Champions in New York City, respectively.

The Demon Deacon men competed on Sept. 28, and acquired 508 points, placing them 20th overall out of 27 teams, eight of which were ranked.

Ranked No. 9, Oregon placed first, with Eastern Michigan and Weber State taking second and third. Brigham Young's Kip Kangogo won the individual title with a time of 23:38.9.

Senior Mike Altieri finished in 79th place with a time of 25:26.6 in the 8,000-meter race. His performance was impressive enough to earn him the title of ACC Cross Country Performer of the Week for the week of Sept. 30.

Following Altieri were sophomore Brandon Bartholomew (91st, 25:31.5), junior Dave Barrett (98th, 25:34.6), freshman Sean Stevens (110th, 25:42.2), and junior Matt Busick (130th, 25:59.0).

Also representing Wake Forest were sophomores Chris Elder, with a time of 26:00.2, and Brian Smith, 26:38.8.

While the men faced tough competition in St. Paul, the women harriers were busy dominating the course in New York. The Wake Forest women's team finished in second place out of 30 teams on Sept. 28, only five points behind unranked Missouri.

Individually, the 6,000-meter race was won by Yale's Kate O'Neill with a time of 20:36.6.

Sophomore Anne Bersagel led the team with a time of 21:11.7, finishing in fifth place.

Bersagel was followed closely by senior Risa Rutland, who finished seventh with a 21:38.1, and by redshirt freshman Jill Miller, whose time of 21:44.0 earned her eighth place.

Also scoring for the Deacons were sophomore Danielle Coon (22nd, 22:19.0), freshman Erin Franklin (28th, 22:27.6), and junior Catherine Fortin-Major (35th, 22:45.0).

Women harriers senior Adralyn Wendel, senior Courtney Lancashire, junior Becca Veenstra and sophomore Tess Fath were also present at the meet.

The women's team recently dropped to No. 26 in the FinishLynx/ NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country National Poll.

This third poll of the season upset their previous weekly ranking of No. 22.

Overall, however, Head Coach Annie Schweitzer-Bennett was pleased with the team's performance.

"The race was very competitive which we needed," she said. "This was our first test of ranked competition. The girls left there happy that we beat all the Northeast schools and are excited to race again."

The team looks to regain their rank in the polls in the upcoming pre-nationals, and are "hungry to compete," said Bennett.