The Middlebury cross country teams began their respective 2014 seasons by competing at the Dartmouth Invitational at the Hanover Country Club. The women, ranked third nationally, finished fourth of five teams, while the 12th-ranked men were sixth of six squads in a meet comprised of Division I, II and III teams. Middlebury returns to action next Saturday when it hosts the annual Aldrich Invitational. The women's race will begin at 12:30 p.m., while the men will begin at 1:15 p.m.

On a tough and hilly course, Alison Maxwell brought to the line a tightly-bunched group of Panther women. Maxwell crossed the stripe in 30th (23:28.40), just seconds in front of Katie Carlson in 31st (23:37.40). Addis Fouche-Channer was next in 36th (23:55.20), while Robin Vincent (38th, 23:55.80) and Adrian Walsh (39th, 23:56.60) completed the scorers.

In men's action, Kevin Wood led the Panther scorers with a 29th-place finish (26:14.50). Wilder Schaaf was the next to cross in 37th place (26:35.10), while Jake Fox was just seconds behind in 39th (26:41.10). Rounding out the scorers were Brian Rich in 45th (26:55.00) and Sam Cartwright in 46th (27:04.40).