AUBURN #- For 26 years the Auburn Cross Country Invitational has been an important part of the season drawing together numerous schools at Holland Stadium for a day of top-notch cross country competition - a chance for runners to put their skills up against athletes they might not normally face through the course of the regular season.

This year the invitational drew 14 different schools and 638 runners.

“The whole idea behind the invitational system is to get together different schools,” Auburn coach Sam Thomas said. “I thinkthis is a really good thing for Auburn and the community. We have a great course and we take a lot of pride in that and we like to be able to share that with other teams and I think that reflects well on the community and our school.”

Still, it was almost a local sweep.

The Skaneateles girls and Weedsport boys took first place among Class C/D schools, and the Auburn boys won Class A. The Auburn girls came up just short, taking second in Class A. Meanwhile, the Moravia girls took third in C/D, and the Weedsport girls finished fourth. The Skaneateles boys came in just four points behind Weedsport and took second place.

For the Lakers, the girls were virtually unbeatable - eight Skaneateles runners finished in the top 11 - as they totaled just 23 points in a 62-point victory. Hannah Waite led the way with a second-place finish overall (20:05.44). For Weedsport, Sarah Wignall was the top finisher taking fourth (20:45.93). Alicia McLaughlin was the top Blue Devil with a 12th-place finish (22:38.26).

On the boys side, Moravia's Jason Phillips took first place overall (17:30.88), and Weedsport's Mike Greer led the way for the Warriors (17:38.16). Sam Smolenski was the top Laker with a sixth-place finish (17:48.67).

In the A division, Auburn's Chris Mason was the top finisher (16:26.23) to help Auburn to a 24-point victory.

“He had a good run,” Thomas said. “It can be tough; when it is just you running you can get in your own head too much. There isn't anyone else there to keep you motivated and you can get too lost in your own head. But Chris did a great job.”

Not good enough for Mason, though. After a time of 16:08 last year, he had hoped to get his time below 15:58.

“I felt a little off,” he said. “I thought it was just nerves. I went out and when I hit the first turn I got a cramp and that slowed me down a little bit. I wanted to get a lower time, but I was a little too far off for that today.”

Rosie Scheibel led the was for the Auburn girls with a fifth-place finish (21:06.93), and Liz Mahoney was just steps behind her (21:18.27).

“We had one runner who wasn't feeling well and one that has just gotten back from surgery,” girls coach Laurie O'Connor said. Other schools like Mercy had a really strong group. I think we could've done better, but the girls ran really well.“

Mahoney said having this kind of competition on Auburn's home ground was a real motivating factor.

“I love this invitational,” she said. “It is a good experience to get out and run against these other teams.”

Notes: Miami was the first team in history to visit the Carrier Dome when the Orange opened the building with a 36-24 victory over the RedHawks on Sept. 20, 1980.

Joe Morris led the way with 171 yards rushing and three touchdowns before a crowd of 50,564, still the attendance record.