The Panther cross country teams both turned in some strong performances at the Purple Valley Classic hosted by Williams on Saturday.  The Middlebury men entered the weekend ranked 23rd, finishing third overall among 13 teams, falling to just #3 MIT and #9 Williams. MIT won the event with 41 points, the Ephs had 59, while the Panthers were just one point back with 60. The Middlebury women entered the weekend ranked eighth, winning the event with 38 points despite missing its top two runners. Third-ranked MIT placed second (43), followed by fourth-ranked Williams (46) in the 13-team race.

The Middlebury women placed runners 5-8 in the race, as well as 12th. Erzsie Nagy led the women, with a time of 22:46, edging teammate Katherine Tercek by just one second. Emily Singer was seventh in 22:53, followed by Katie Rominger (22:55) and Summer Spillane in 12th (23:02).

The men placed five in the top 20, including Kevin Wood who paced the team with a sixth place finish in 26:21. Greg Krathwohl was just behind in seventh in 21:26, while Nate Sans was third with a time of 26:38. Wilder Schaaf and Luke Carpinello finished the race 18th (27:10) and 19th (27:15) respectively.