Lake Forest College Cross Country News & Notes November 6, 1999       Contact:  Scott Rucker, SID LF WOMEN RECORD SCHOOL'S BEST-EVER TEAM FINISH AT  MWC'S      Five was the hot number for the Lake Forest College women's cross country team at the Midwest Conference Championship Meet on Saturday (Nov. 6). In just the fifth year of the program, the women's team took fifth place, the school's best-ever finish, at the meet. The Foresters raced by Knox and St. Norbert, who had bested Lake Forest a combined five times (compared to zero Lake Forest wins) throughout the season, to claim fifth place. Lake Forest had five runners under 22 minutes, five runners in the top 40, and five runners ran the conference championship race for the first time.       Leading the way was junior Michelle Murillo (Des Plaines, IL) with a time of 21:08, good for 17th place overall. It was the second consecutive year Murillo has been in the top 20 at the conference meet. Junior Sarah Simpson (Colorado Springs, CO) moved up seven places from last year's conference meet with her 19th place showing. She finished the five-kilometer course in 21:15. Freshman Melissa Brown (Cape Coral, FL) ran the best race of her season with a 24th place showing and a time of 21:30. It was the first time Brown had been in the Forester's top three and the second fastest time of her career. Freshman Jillian Hibler (Salt Lake City, UT) and sophomore Jennifer McGuire (San Francisco, CA) rounded out the top five for Lake Forest. Hibler was the 32nd person to cross the finish line, while McGuire finished 36th.       The Lake Forest men's team finished 10th at the ten-team meet. Although the finish was disappointing, it was just the third time all season that the team has been healthy enough to field a complete five-person team. The Foresters again ran without injured number one runner Joe Zemaitis. Lake Forest fielded a team of five first-year runners and one sophomore. The six runners were the highest the team has competed with this season. Freshman Eric Crawley (Braintree, MA) was the top Forester finisher with a time of 30:47 and a 51st place finish.       Lake Forest will send a complete women's team and a partial men's team to next weekend's (Nov. 13) Midwest Regional Championship Meet, hosted by Augustana (IL) College in Rock Island, IL. The Foresters competed in the regional meet for the first time in school history last year.      Complete Meet Results -- Men, Women