The men's cross country team raced its way to fifth place Saturday in the Boston College Invitational amid a field filled with top-ranked teams.

The Crimson was only bested by Dartmouth, South Florida, Kansas and Fairleigh Dickinson, even though an illness prevented sophomore star Brian Walsh from running.

"I'm pleased with those who ran," Harvard Coach Frank Haggerty said. "Last year we ran the same course two weeks later in the season, and we still managed to shave 45 seconds off last year's time."

Harvard's top finisher was junior Peter McConnon at 25 minutes, 50 seconds. Sophomores Darin Shearer and Matthew Bundle each chopped two minutes off their times from last year.

Haggerty said a strong crop of freshmen runners are likely to turn some heads this year.

"I'm pleased with their performance so far," Haggerty said. "I have not used any of them in a race yet, but I plan to in Friday's meet against Brown and Northeastern."

The Bears will be the toughest challenge for the Crimson so far this year, since they went to the nationals last season.

Nevertheless, the runners said they feel confident that they are up to the task.

"We're going to have to run well to beat Brown," senior Steven Kelts said. "But we want to send a message to the rest of the league to watch out for us."