Swain finished in fifth place in the men's race and automatically qualified for next Saturday's NCAA meet at St. Olaf (Minn.) College. The top seven individual finishers not on a team that automatically qualified earned spots in the national meet.

Meanwhile, the Colby women finished in fourth place overall behind a 13th-place finish from Mandy Ivey. The top two teams at the NCAA qualifier earn automatic bids to the national meet, while teams finishing in places three to five enter an at-large pool and will be considered when all bids are handed out Sunday. The Colby women are very likely to get an at-large bid.

Swain had a time of 25 minutes, 7.9 seconds over the 8-kilometer course Saturday. He nearly finished in fourth place and was just edged by Bowdoin's Nate Krah with a 25:07.1. Swain's big finish helped the Colby men place 17th out of 47 teams.

Ivey had a time of 22:12.8 to help the Colby women to their strong finish. Anna King took 19th place in 22:22.1, while Cassie Knight was 26th in 22:32.7. Liz Petit placed 39th in 22:45.5 and Emma Linhard was Colby's fifth finisher in 22:52.3.

Colby's women's results: 13. Mandy Ivey, 22:12.8; 19. Anna King, 22:22.1; 26. Cassie Knight, 22:32.7; 39. Liz Petit, 22:45.5; 43. Emma Linhard, 22:52.3; 52. Katrina Gravel, 23:05.5; 102. Devan FitzPatrick, 23:45.5

Colby's men's results: 5. John Swain, 25:07.9; 111. Alex Gill, 26:50.0; 116. Chris Darrah, 26:54.4; 133. Ben Cunkleman, 27:08.5; 140. Tim Maguire, 27:23.7; 142. Bob Glotfelty, 27:29.4; 151. Chris Appel, 27:37.6