It was a relatively quiet week in the NCAA cross country scene, as most teams rested while looking forward to a busy weekend to come. A majority of the top squads in DII and DIII raced the previous weekend, so a softer slate of meets was to be expected.

Still though, an off week for most doesn’t mean an off week for all. Here were the highlights from NCAA DII and DIII cross country: 

DII: No. 10 Dallas Baptist’s top 3 men impress at Chile Pepper

The strength of the No. 10 Dallas Baptist men is their excellent top three, and they showed why on Saturday at the Chile Pepper XC Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The trio of the Stetson Rayas (5th), Andrew Curry (11th), and Trent Phelps (19th) all placed top 20 in a race featuring DI’s 13th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, leading the Patriots to a third place team finish.

Rayas ran 24:30 to post the top finish by a non-D1 or professional athlete.

Stetson Rayas talks about his 5th place finish at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival today! pic.twitter.com/uVXU0FR26i

— DBU TFCC (@DBU_XCandTrack) September 22, 2018

Now, DBU will have to shore up their other two scorers, as the :53 seconds between Trent Phelps and No. 4 man Matthew Hahn won’t fly at nationals for a team with top 10 potential. The Patriots could have three top 30 guys at NCAAs, but they’ll need more production out of their secondary scorers in order to take advantage.

DII: 2016 All-American Mercy Rotich returns for Eastern New Mexico

After missing all of the 2017 cross country season, Eastern New Mexico senior Mercy Rotich is back this fall. Rotich, who finished sixth at NCAAs back in 2016, placed 12th on Saturday at Chile Pepper in 17:37 for 5k in just her second cross country race since nationals two years ago. The time was good for a 5k school record.

She’s back!!! https://t.co/KQd6NLQT5w

— ENMU TRACK/XC (@ENMU_TrackXC) September 20, 2018

Rotich certainly was the marquee DII name at Chile Pepper, but Drury’s Claire McCune was the top DII finisher in the women’s race in eighth.

DIII: No. 3 MIT beats two ranked teams at Purple Valley XC

In a battle of three top 10 squads, the MIT women easily beat No. 5 Tufts and No. 6 Middlebury on Saturday at the Purple Valley XC Invite. The Engineers scored 67 points-- led by Leandra Zimmermann and Izzi Gengaro’s top five finishes-- to beat previously unranked Williams by 14 points. Both Tufts and Middlebury scored over 100 points.

Tufts senior Natalie Bettez won the individual 6k race in 22:06 over Coast Guard All-American Kaitlyn Mooney.

DIII: No. 7 RPI men thump No. 6 Amherst, O’Connor upsets O’Connor

In a showdown between two top 10 teams at Purple Valley, seventh-ranked RPI made a strong case to zoom up the rankings by easily beating No. 6 Amherst 41-118 on Saturday in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Williams (72 points) and Middlebury (103 points) finished second and third behind RPI, while Amherst was fourth.

The Engineers put four in the top 10, including race winner Sean O’Connor, who crossed the 8k line in 25:44.

XC | No. 6 Men's @RPI_XC Wins Purple Valley Classic Behind Individual Winner Sean O'Connor; No. 12 #RPI Women are Fifth #d3xc

MEN'S RECAP: https://t.co/q39j3dVxJo

WOMEN'S RECAP: https://t.co/T2EBetPKBn pic.twitter.com/QyNQmXBNGF

— RPI Athletics (@RPIAthletics) September 22, 2018

While it was somewhat surprising to see RPI take down Amherst with such ease, the bigger shocker was O’Connor winning the race. An O’Connor from RPI was expected to win, but it was quite an upset when it wasn’t Grant O’Connor, the reigning NCAA 5,000m champion and fourth-place NCAA XC finisher in 2017. 

Sean had only beaten Grant-- who was fifth in 25:58 on Saturday-- once on the cross country course entering this weekend. While it can’t be fun for Grant to cede a spot to his fellow senior, the All-American has to like the potential the pair have going forward.