The York University Lions men's and women's cross country teams finished ninth and 12^th, respectively, at the Western International Invitational in London, Ont., on Saturday (Sept. 26).
 
Suraj Sharma (Brampton, Ont.) led the way for the Lions on the men's side, crossing the finish line of the 8km race with a time of 26:59, which placed him 40^th overall. Just over a minute after Sharma ended his day, Brandon Belan (Espanola, Ont.) finished with a time of 27:09 placing him 45^th overall, and Chris Pallotta (Toronto) ended in 27:54, landing him in the 57^th spot.
 
The other Lions in the race weren't far behind as Harishan Karunenthiran (Brampton, Ont.), Jamie Tarling (Caledon, Ont.) and Sam Agnew (Renfrew, Ont.) crossed the line with times of 28:14, 28:24 and 28:26, respectively.
 
The first to cross the finish line for the women's team was Vaishnavy Yogarajah (Brampton, Ont.), who finished the race with a time of 20:54, good for 82^nd overall. Shortly after Yogarajah crossed the finish line, teammate Vanesa Ereqi (Mississauga, Ont.) sprinted through with a time of 21:06. Other notable Lions running in Saturday's race were Shae Turner (Toronto) in a time of 21:46, Anna Prouzou (Toronto) in 22:06 and Darya Chenskikh (North York, Ont.) in 22:47.
 
Both cross country teams are back in action next weekend (Oct. 3) when they participate in the Don Mills Open in Waterloo, Ont.