RANDOLPH, Vt. – The Castleton Spartans women's cross country team brought home a fourth-place finish at the Maple Syrup Challenge hosted by Vermont Tech on Saturday.

Freshman Bethany Davis was the quickest Spartan in the 80-runner field, completing the course in 23:28.57 to place 20th. Amber Cuthbert (23:51.80) and Eden Goldstein (23:54.80) filled the 35th and 36th spots, respectively, to give Castleton three runners in the top half of finishers. Trinity Lynch (26:27.49) came in 47th while veteran Charlotte Morrison (28:22.64) rounded out the Spartan five in 54th.

Middlebury finished atop the team leaderboard with a near-perfect 19-point performance. The Panthers' Beatrice Parr was first to cross the finish line with a time of 20:05.26, 47 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Katherine Culliton from Saint Michael's. Runner-up SMC (59 points) had two runners finish in the top ten and were followed by Fitchburg State (84) and Castleton (146).

The Spartans head to Dartmouth, Mass. next Saturday, September 17 for the UMass Dartmouth Invitational. Runners begin the Robert Dowd Cross Country Course at noon.