Lincoln, Neb. Beverly Ramos led the Kansas State women’s cross country team to a second-place finish Saturday at the Woody Greeno Invitational.

Ramos, a junior, continued her winning ways as she crossed the line first for the second time this season in as many tries, finishing with a 6K time of 21:02.0. With the victory Ramos won the Woody Greeno for the second straight year and improved her time by 19 seconds from a year ago. Ramos was able to capture the lead early and not look back, finishing 30 seconds in front of the nearest competitor. Senior Liliani Mendez finished seventh for the Cats, while Emily Dittemore, Emilee Morris and Megan-Anne Perrin finished 10th,16th and17th, respectively, to round out the top five for K-State.

“Beverly ran really, really well. She broke the race open early and just kept pouring it on. You can’t say enough about her, she dominated. She wasn’t pushed. She did it all on her own and just kept pressing and pressing,” said Smith.

The women fell just four points short of their second consecutive first place finish, placing second to host team Nebraska, who won the meet with 49 points. At four kilometers, the Wildcats had five runners in front of the Huskers’ four, but a late surge by the fourth and fifth women for Nebraska turned into high placed finishers, helping the Huskers capture first by four points.

“We did accomplish some objectives because we wanted to be close to them (Nebraska) and measure ourselves against one of the teams that we consider one of the better ones in the Big 12. We were right with them, but we just didn’t finish the race the way we needed to, and they did,” said head coach Michael Smith.

The men struggled to a 12^th place overall finish, while Butler Community College finished first. Senior Colin Swaney competed for the first time this season, placing 19^th after an 8K time of 26:13.9. Fellow seniors Alex Umberger and Danny Schneider finished 42^nd and 59th, respectively, to complete the top three for the Cats.

“Colin Swaney ran his first race for us this year and he ran well under tough conditions and I think our young guys found out what collegiate running is like. Our upperclassmen still need to get the rust off and get back to the way we know they can run,” said Smith.

The men, who scored 59 points, finished second in the university division to host team Nebraska, who tallied 59.

The Wildcats will continue action on Oct. 4th, at the Cowboy Jamboree, in Stillwater, Okla.