The GW men’s and women’s cross country teams kicked off their seasons Saturday at the La Salle Invitational in Philadelphia.

The men’s team finished second of three teams, while the women’s team placed fourth out of five teams.

“It’s pretty obvious now that we still have a lot to work on,” GW head coach Jim Hopkins said. “But we’ll improve. That’s part of the game plan.”

La Salle won the men’s race with 15 points, with GW a distant second at 49 points. The top GW finisher was freshman Chris Peterson, who finished in 27:49. Sophomore Nathan Converse and senior Jeff McCarthy were the second and third finishers for GW.

UMass won the women’s race with 39 points, and GW finished fourth with 112 points. Julie Laurance was the top GW finisher with a time of 20:42. Freshman Jenee Petersen and senior Amanda Roebel finished second and third for GW.

The Colonial harriers learned what type of competition they will be up against in the Atlantic 10 meet at the end of the season. Hopkins said La Salle will contend for the conference title on the men’s side and that GW faced four of the top teams in the A-10 on the women’s side.

“Instead of a big surprise at the A-10 meet, we’re going to be very aware of how good some of these other teams are,” Hopkins said. “This meet will help us in the long run.”