YORK, Pa.--The Hood College men's and women's cross country teams both placed fourth in their respective Capital Athletic Conference championships Saturday at York College (Pa.).

Junior Danielle Sgro became the first Hood runner to earn all-conference honors with a 12th place finish on the 6,000-meter course. Her time of 24:33 was the sixth-fastest time in program history. 

Freshman Lauren Smith narrowly missed all-conference designation by just 11 seconds in 24:54, good for 17th place overall and a 13-second personal best. Her effort was the ninth-fastest time in program history.

Senior Sara Stiles (36th overall, 29th team scorer) ran a 38-second personal best and passed two Marymount University runners in the last mile. Junior Katie Thomas (39th/32nd) passed three Villa Julie College runners and one Wesley College runner in the last mile. Sophomore Lisa Blickenstaff (44th/37th) ran a five-second personal record.

Hood slipped in front of Villa Julie, Marymount & Wesley, all teams which had defeated the Blazers earlier this fall.

On the men’s side sophomore William Andrews time of 28:27 led Hood with a 22nd place (17th in team scoring) finish, the highest individual finish at the CAC meet by a Hood man and was the ninth-fastest time in men’s program history.

Senior Faraz Shoai (27th/20th) ran 28:59, 13th-fastest in program history, followed by junior Nick Manning (31st/23rd) in 29:04, the 15th-fastest time. Rapidly-improving Brendan Greenlees (47th/28th) ran a 20-second personal record in 30:12, and senior captain Steve Delaney closed out the Hood scoring with a 30:16 good for 48th/29th. Ben Caplins recorded a personal record by 15 seconds.

"Both teams have taken the next step,' said head coach Brent Ayer. "We are now officially beyond 'start-up status.' We have a solid number of athletes, our times are coming down, our off-season work habits are improving and we are moving into the middle of a very competitive conference.

"Danielle’s accolade is a great accomplishment, one born of a tremendous amount of hard work this summer, and very significant to the program. She is a very good student, a very hard worker, and now an all-conference runner. We are all very proud of her.

"To set a personal record on this course is a pretty amazing accomplishment given the rolling terrain. Lauren, Sara, Lisa, Brendan, and Ben all did great work today. Lauren had a great, great day. She came from literally out of nowhere and almost snuck off with an All-Conference designation."

Hood closes out the fall campaign Saturday at the NCAA Regionals hosted by Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.