NORTHFIELD, Minn. — A week ago, the Saint Mary's University cross country teams competing in the Hamline Invitational, which was held at Highland Park Golf Course, the same venue where the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships will be held in late October.
 
Saturday morning, the Cardinals were once again in "preview" mode, as they took part in the St. Olaf Invitational — on the same course that the regular season-ending NCAA Regional Championships will be held.
 
And for the second week in a row, the Cardinals' first go-around — this time on the St. Olaf course — left a broad smile on the face of head coach Darren Schneider.
 
Granton Schneider (Moorhead, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinal men for the third time in as many races, posting an eight-kilometer time of 27:26.75, while Caroline Gearin (Osceola, Wis.) turned in her best six-kilometer showing of the year, stopping the clock in 26:33.5 to pace the SMU women.
 
Along with Schneider's effort, Gabe Bickerstaff (Rollingstone, Minn.) and Sam Morris (Hockinson, Wash.) chipped in times of 30:07.37 and 30:08.96, respectively, and Isaiah Brindamour (Hinckley, Minn.) rounded out the Cardinal men's efforts with a time of 32:03.15.
 
On the women's side, Abbie Meyer and Caeli McMahon finished in a virtual dead heat, posting times of 28:01.3 and 28:01.4, respectively, with Megan Frosch chipping in a time of 28:50.1.
 
The Cardinals are now off until Sept. 30, when they head to the Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax, Wis., to take part in the Blugold Invitational, hosted by UW-Eau Claire.