The Mustang cross country team took a jog north last weekend,and raced to victory at the Mean Green Opener in Denton.

Led by senior All-American Karin van Rooyen, the team easilyoutpaced runner-up Baylor. The Bears were ranked No. 25 nationallyin the pre-season FinishLynx/NCAA Division I Poll.

Local rivals TCU, UNT and UT-Arlington rounded out the topfive.

SMU’s Van Rooyen, a native of Ermelo, South Africa, spedpast most of the competition as she completed the 5k race in 17:56,finishing second to Baylor’s Brittany Brockman, who had atime of 17:43.

Five of the top-10 times belonged to Mustangs.

Nicole Kelleher, a transfer from Dartmouth and the only othersenior on SMU’s squad, finished third overall at 18:05.

The race did not seem to be dominated by seniority, however, asthe Ponies also had sophomore Jessica Jackson and first-yearsRachael Forish and Krystal Rodriguez place in the top 10.

Rodriguez (18:23) and Forish (18:24) finished fourth and fifth,respectively, while Jackson (18:41) hustled into 10th place.

Head Coach John Rembao views the mix of veteran leadership andfresh talent as beneficial to a team he feels could be one ofSMU’s best in years.

In addition to the five runners who placed this weekend, 2003WAC Freshman of the Year Rachel Collins is expected to make acontribution as well.

“We had a great recruiting class last year,” hesaid. “That’s a major [key] to our success.”

This weekend, the team will host the SMU Cross CountryInvitational. The 4k race will be this Saturday at 9 a.m. atNorbuck Park in Dallas.