St. Mary's College freshman Dan Swain was named the Capital Athletic Conference men's cross country Athlete of the Week for the second time this season after finishing second overall, and first among the seven CAC schools represented in the chase, at Saturday's Hood College Invitational.

The meet was a preview of the 2009 CAC championship course at Heritage Farm Park in Walkersville, Md. And while the two programs that have dominated CAC cross country (Mary Washington and Salisbury) did not compete, there was one indisputable result from the event - freshmen will be prominent in the conference championship.

Swain, representing the first-year Seahawks program, was outdueled by just three seconds on the 8,000-meter course for the individual title by another freshman, Washington & Jefferson's Scott Ryan.

Just seven seconds after Swain crossed the finish line, SMC classmate Nick Pasko placed third overall. Another Seahawk first-year student, Quint Frauman, placed 23rd overall out of 123 runners to help coach Tom Fisher's program finish fourth out of 16 in the team standings.

In fact, a scan of the results at the Hood Invitational shows seven men and five women, representing six CAC institutions, were among the Top 30 finishers in their respective races at Hood.

Joining the charge of newcomers in the men's race at Hood were York's Steven Childres (10th) and Greg Bivona (21st), Stevenson's Avior Zynda (16th) and Hood's Brett Shelley (22nd).

First-year students that were among the top performers in the women's chase were Tuesday Wilson (11th) of York, Katie Phipps (15th) of St. Mary's, Katier Stuver (19th) of Marymount, Julie Bekier (24th) of Stevenson and Tristin Burris (29th) of Wesley.

Additionally, York sophomore Corie Thompson is still improving after winning the CAC Rookie of the Year award at the 2008 championship race. Thompson placed seventh overall at Hood Saturday.

Burris, who was the CAC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week on Oct. 6, also adds an interesting twist for Wesley. In addition to a couple of strong performances for the cross country team, Burris is also one of the top subs for the Wolverines field hockey team that is 11-5 and tied for third place in the CAC. She's played in all 16 games and contributed one goal for coach Tracey Short's playoff-bound squad.

How does all this youth impact the final team standings at the 2009 CAC Championship? Can any CAC team(s) catch the traditional powerhouse programs at Mary Washington and Salisbury? Those questions will be answered November 7 when the youngsters throughout the CAC programs join the chase.