The McMaster men's cross-country team earned their best finish at the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union Cross-Country Running Championships in over 30 years with a hard-fought, fourth-place finish.

Running fifth with a kilometre left in the 10-kilometre race, the Marauders charged to the finish to beat out the Saskatchewan Huskies for fourth place. The Guelph Gryphons won the team title followed by the Alberta Pandas in second and the Sherbrooke Vert & Or in third place.

First-year graduate student Brian Stewart led the way for McMaster with an eleventh-place individual finish and second-team all-Canadian honours. Also scoring for the team were Tim Shannon(32nd), Chris Hendershot(38th), Rob Switzer(47th) and Phil Boley(56th) in a field of 101 athletes.

The women's cross-country team improved by one place from its 1999 showing with an eleventh-place team finish. Cindy Lewis, a second-year kinesiology student, led the team with a fourteenth place finish to earn second- team All-Canadian honours.

Also scoring for the team were co-captains Amy Seiling (61st) and Leigh Tynan (63rd). Carla Cupido (87th) and Erin McDougall(94th) rounded out the Marauder scoring in the field of 118 athletes. Fifteen teams contested the women's title with the Victoria Vikes winning their third consecutive title. The Guelph Gryphons and Western Mustangs finished second and third respectively.