BOONE, N.C. - Going through their final tune-up before the Colonial Athletic Association Cross Country Championships in two weeks, UNC Wilmington finished third out of 15 teams in the women's race and 11th in the men's competition at Friday's chilly Blue Ridge Mountain Open at the State Farm Fields.

      Senior Kathleen Casto (Grimsley HS/Greensboro, N.C.) and sophomore Wil Zahorodny (Damascus HS/Damascus, Md.) were the top runners for the Seahawks for the second straight meet. Casto clocked a time of 18:30 over the 5K layout in the women's race to come in 16^th out of 133 runners. Zahorodny, meanwhile, finished 52nd out of 154 entries with a 26:20 time on the 8K men's course.

      Duke took the women's title with 18 points, while High Point won the men's race with 76 points.

      "Our women had a great meet," said Layne Schwier, UNCW's assistant track/cross country coach. "Kathleen and Bernadette led us again, but we had several other individuals step up with key performances. Christina (Borowiec) had a very good race and closed down the gap on the front two. Samantha (Mifsud) ran a very gutsy race after struggling early in the season with an injury.

      "They battled through less than ideal conditions. To come to Boone and beat Appalachian State on their course is quite an accomplishment, and I'm very proud of our women.

      "On the men's side, Wil led the way, but fellow sophomore Cam Shaver closed to within a second of him. Came has been training very well lately, and I knew he would race well. Freshman Max Mittelman had a strong performance to round out our scoring.

      "We have two more weeks of training and just need to stay healthy. After today's race, our women are very confident and excited about our possibilities at the conference meet."

      Women's Team Results: Duke, 18; Virginia Tech, 104; UNC Wilmington, 115; Appalachian State, 139; VMI, 146; Elon, 152; Western Carolina, 180; High Point, 192; Coastal Carolina, 208; Clemson, 271; Charleston, 294; UNC Asheville, 310; Lees-McRae, 378; Morehead State, 405; Gardner-Webb, 418.

      UNCW Individual Women's Results: Kathleen Casto, 16^th, 18:30; Bernadette O'Neill, 24^th, 18:52; Christina Borowiec, 36^th, 19:12; Lindsay Ester, 46^th, 19:23; Samantha Mifsud, 50^th, 19:26; Lily Patterson, 62^nd, 19:42; Erin Brennan, 64^th, 19:44; Lauren Mohr, 76^th, 19:56; Lauren Wells, 78^th, 19:58.

      Men's Team Results: High Point, 76; Davidson, 77; Appalachian State, 83; Coastal Carolina, 159; Wake Forest, 166; VMI, 180; Clemson, 206; Elon, 212; Western Carolina, 235; Charleston, 286; UNC Wilmington, 295; Mars Hill, 311; Morehead State, 321; UNC Asheville, 336; Lees-McRae, 370; ASU Alumni, 402; Gardner-Webb, 506; UNC Greensboro, 540; Radford, 549.

      UNCW Men's Individual Results: Wil Zahorodny, 52^nd, 26:20; Cam Shaver, 54^th, 26:21; Kelly Carmichael, 66^th, 26:38; Ross Monroe, 88^th, 27:04; Max Mittelman, 108^th, 27:39; Remy Tamer, 112^th, 27:49; Bob Vanderham, 124^th, 28:08; Sean Farrell, 144^th, 29:41.