The men and women’s cross country teams began their postseasons with strong finishes in the Big Ten Tournament on Sunday in Champaign, Ill.

The No. 14 women came into the tournament as the highest ranked Big Ten school by the FinishLynx Women’s Cross Country Rankings, putting pressure on the team.

“We knew that (finishing well) was a possibility but we weren’t sure if it would play out in the tournament,” head coach Jim Stintzi said.

The women placed first among the 11 schools with 35 points. The second place team, Michigan, scored 101 points.

Senior Ann Somerville led the Spartans with a time of 17:06.9 placing her second. She lost by only four seconds.

Sophomore Michelle Carson sophomore Jamie Krzyminski and freshman Katie Anderson also finished in the top 10 for the Spartans.

“It was a flat course and real fast, but it was real windy,” he said. “It was a big problem for us deciding if we should try to beat them up top, which is what we ended up doing.”

The No. 18 men didn’t fare as well but still placed third in the tournament with 97 points. Wisconsin placed first with 28 points.

The top Spartan finisher, freshman Chris Toloff, finished ninth with a time of 24:15.4, less than a minute behind the leader, Alan Webb from U-M.

Junior Ben Evans, sophomore Andy Marsh and sophomore Jason Mueller all finished in the top 25.

“The men are running really well,” Stintzi said. “We were the third-ranked team and we finished third. It was as well as we’ve run all year.”

With the conference tournament over, the teams will now wait for invitations to the NCAA Tournament in Indiana on Nov. 10.