It was a mostly quiet weekend on the NCAA cross country front, but two big meets-- the Lewis Conference Crossover and the NEICAAA Championships-- made for plenty of highlights in the DII and DIII scene.

Here were the cross country newsmakers over the weekend:

D2 Women: No. 3 Western Colorado Women Sweep 1-2-3, Dominate Lewis Crossover

A victory at Saturday’s Lewis Conference Crossover for No. 3-ranked Western Colorado was all but assured given the relatively light competition, but nonetheless, the Lady Mountaineers’ 38-point score in Romeoville, Illinois, was quite impressive. Led by a sweep of the top three places-- Sophie Seward (21:39), Alicja Konieczek (21:39), and Aneta Konieczek (21:44)-- Western beat 10th-ranked Simon Fraser easily, 38-146.

Here is how you win the Lewis XC Conference Crossover — have your top three finish 1-2-3. @WesternTrack @WCUMountaineers pic.twitter.com/LzoYqYzNll

— Mark Miller (@MountainMiller) October 6, 2018

The Mountaineers’ highly touted top four, which includes the three All-Americans listed above plus Western Oregon transfer Kennedy Rufener, all finished in the top eight at Lewis in the 6k race. This year’s meet didn’t appear to be nearly as strong as the 2017 version, which featured seven women’s teams that went on to place top-15 at nationals a year ago, but still, Western Colorado’s quartet of All-Americans are so far delivering on their tremendous promise.

D2 Men: No. 4 Western Colorado Men Crush Two Top 10 Squads At Lewis

The men’s race at Lewis was much more competitive than the ladies’ race, but the result was much the same: Western Colorado took the team title with four men in the top 20 finishers. Western did that without their top runner, All-American Ahmed Jama, who is redshirting this cross country season.

Taylor Stack leading the way for @WesternTrack on the way to the men’s title at the Lewis XC Conference Crossover. @WCUMountaineers pic.twitter.com/tBtj8zrEbc

— Mark Miller (@MountainMiller) October 6, 2018

The Mountaineers beat runner-up and seventh-ranked Queens (N.C.) 84-115, while Simon Fraser and Saginaw Valley took third and fourth with 127 and 159 points, respectively. Those latter two performances were particularly impressive for SFU and Saginaw, as neither squad qualified for nationals in 2017. 

On the other side of the coin, fifth-ranked CSU-Pueblo fell flat despite putting two runners in the top three finishers. The Thunderwolves’ No. 3 runner didn’t cross until 50th place, nearly 70 seconds behind third place finisher Derrick Williams. It’s just one meet, but Pueblo clearly has their work cut out for them going forward and will see their spot in the rankings take a big hit for now.

Junior Austin Nolan of Southern Indiana got the individual win in 24:33 for the 8k course. That result was quite the turnaround from a year ago for Nolan, as he was just 31st at the meet in 2017.

D3 Women: No. 3 MIT Women Take Second at NEICAAA Championships

The Engineers from MIT put four in the top 17 and all five of their scorers among the first 26 finishers on Saturday at the NEICAAA Championships in Boston to finish second behind only DI Boston College with 78 points. MIT was led by freshman Izzi Gengaro in sixth place. 

With four runners in the top 20, the No. 4 @MITTFXC women's team was second overall and first among D3 competition at Saturday's NEICAAA Championship at Franklin Park! Full recap and results at https://t.co/7h6yOaYbQM! #RollTech pic.twitter.com/kYmqYi3Gsh

— MIT Athletics (@MITengineers) October 6, 2018

The third-ranked DIII women’s squad easily defeated in-state rival and fellow DIII team Tufts by 144 points despite the Jumbos getting an individual victory out of senior Natalie Bettez. Bettez maintained her perfect season in 2018 with her third straight win.

D3 Men: MIT Stuns Ninth-Ranked DII Squad Stonehill

Big changes in the FloXC rankings are coming for both the MIT and Stonehill men’s programs after this past weekend, with each moving in opposite directions in their respective divisions. 

The Engineers, who had fallen outside of the top 10 in DIII last week, had a statement race on Saturday at Franklin Park in Boston as they finished third with 125 points behind DI programs UMass Lowell (84) and Northeastern (116) and ahead of the ninth-ranked DII squad Stonehill (150). Like their female counterparts, MIT’s top scorer was a freshman, Andrew Mah in ninth.

Stonehill, who placed 16th at nationals last year in DII, got solid performances from seniors Lucas Taxter (3rd, 25:00) and Alex Demeule (14th, 25:23), but the Skyhawks’ third runner finished all the way back in 40th place. For a team that won this event last year, Stonehill faces an uphill battle going forward.