NThe Minnesota women's cross country team placed 15th of 38 teams at the Pre-NCAA Meet in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday. The meet was held on the same course that will host the NCAA Championships in November.

The Golden Gophers posted a team score of 430. Top-ranked Brigham Young ran away with the team title by tallying 15 points and placing five runners in the top 15 finishers. No. 4 Colorado finished second with 143.

Junior Darja Vasiljeva led the Gophers with an 18th place finish, posting a time of 20 minutes, 56 seconds on the 6-kilometer course. Freshman Carly Emil was the second Gopher to cross the finish line, placing 48th in 21:36.

"We probably could have finished a few spots higher, but we just haven?t had all our runners hit a good race on the same day," said Golden Gopher head coach Gary Wilson. "We are making progress though and it was a good experience to come down here and run on the NCAA course against a very talented field."

Other Gopher finishers were Jen Hess, who placed 87th in 21:58; Laura Bjork, who placed 132nd in 22:21; Paula Hoffert, who placed 145th in 22:28; Jill Field, who placed 161st in 22:42 and Kimberly Magee, who placed 164th in 22:45.