On the road for the University of New England Invitational hosted at Rotary Park today, the Fighting Scots placed third out of 11 on the women's side and fourth of 11 on the men's to kickoff the 2012 season.

For the women, Thais Ziegenhals (Jr./Essex, Mass.) posted the only top 10 finish of the day for the Scots, grabbing the 10th spot with a 21:28 result on the 5000m course. Following closely behind was teammate Leanne Beedle (Fr./Bethany, Conn.) in her collegiate running debut, who finished 14th in the 125-runner field at 21:41. Katie Hakanson-Stacy (Sr./East Longmeadow, Mass.) was the third Scot to cross the finish, coming in 27th at 22:50.

The University of Southern Maine placed six runners in the top 10 to claim first place on the day with a 1:45.21 total time, while host UNE's Michaela Moran (Fr./Atkinson, N.H.) was the top finisher to lead her team to second overall at 1:49.19. The Scots edged Husson by seven seconds for the third slot with a 1:52.44 total.

On the men's side, newcomer Andrew Swanson (Fr./Lexington, Mass.) had a standout opening day on the 8000m trail, finishing 11th of 104 runners at 30:21. In the 20th spot with a 30:58 time was fellow rookie Wes Nelson (Fr./Charlton, Mass.), while Andrew Kwiatkowski (Jr./Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) and Kory Powers (Fr./Westford, Vt.) finished 31st (32:06) and 32nd (32:24), respectively.

Lyndon State took first overall with a 2:26.24 total time after placing four in the top 10 including the day's top finisher, Josh Grant (Sr./Nashua, N.H.). Southern Maine (2:30.13) edged UNE (2:31.46) for the second spot, leaving Gordon in fourth with a 2:39.39 overall.

The Scots are back at it on Saturday, Sept. 15 as they travel to take on UMass Dartmouth.

UNE Invitational- Women's Results
UNE Invitational- Men's Results