The women’s team has been easing cautiously into the season to prevent the injury problems that have plagued it in the past. Consequently, it has yet to conduct a significant speed workout and many of its top runners did not even compete on Saturday.

Among those who did run, captain Claire Nicholas and junior Virginia Scott turned in strong performances, with Nicholas finishing sixth in 19:00 and Scott registering a personal best, 41 seconds behind her in twelfth. Senior Leif-Ann Reilly exhibited midseason form after a summer of strong training, finishing 15th in 20:15.

But with barely a quarter as many competitors as Brown, the Crimson knew its chances of winning were limited entering the race. Instead, it used the competition as a building block toward the rest of the season.

“It was a good starting point,” Reilly said. “It was the end of our preseason training. We obviously had small numbers, but we did well with what we had.”

Once seniors Deirdre Colgan and Melissa Tanner and junior Bev Whelan have completely recovered from injuries, the team should be even stronger.

Indeed, both the men’s and the women’s next race—the six-kilometer Ional Meet of Champions on Sept. 28—should be a much better indicator of what to expect from them this season, as freshmen for both squads have only begun practicing in the last few days.

—Staff writer Alan G. Ginsberg can be reached at aginsber@fas.harvard.edu.