One of the disadvantages of having a young team is a lack of experience. One of the upsides, however, is that there's always next year.

The Marquette men's cross country team has struggled with its young roster throughout the season. With 11 underclassmen, the inexperience has prevented things from running as smoothly as the team would have liked.

But over the weekend, one senior, one junior, two sophomores and a freshman put the rest of the season behind them and looked like old pros when they ran their best races of the year.

"This was the best race all season," said head coach David Uhrich. "How we ran, where we placed — we were competitive. It was our best race."

The Golden Eagles placed eighth at the Big East Championships held Friday at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y. The men totaled 238 points.

No. 5 Notre Dame earned its second consecutive crown with 31 points. With two top-five finishes, No. 9 Georgetown finished second with 51, and Providence earned 68 points, good for third place.

The nationally ranked teams that placed in the top five were expected to be the top teams in the conference. The real battle was over the sixth spot.

"The other teams were left to battle for seventh through 10th place," Uhrich said. "Our goal was to be in the top six. We knew if we ran really well we could place as high as six, and if we were off, as low as 10th. We finished somewhere in the middle."

While the Golden Eagles did not finish as high as sixth, an eighth place finish in a talented conference is nothing to hang their heads about. After a season filled with injuries and inexperience, Marquette could ask for nothing more than to be competitive its first year in the Big East.

Goal accomplished.

"Our goal was to be competitive," Uhrich said. "We know we've struggled this year with having such a young team and with some injuries. What we did this year is something that we can build on, as opposed to thinking that was the best we could do."

Fueled by the fact that he is one of the few athletes on the roster that cannot fall back on the "there's always next year" mentality, senior David Henderson led the Golden Eagles this weekend. He crossed the line in 35th place with a time of 25:55.

"I approached this race the same as all the others," Henderson said. "I just felt fresher before and during the race."

"I was very proud of Dave," Uhrich said. "He's been battling an injury and has been limited to what he can do, but this was his best race all season. He's the one senior on the team and he showed leadership this weekend."

Junior Jeremy Williams finished 39th with a time of 26:01. Sophomore Kyle Saginus placed 49th with a time of 26:14. Sophomore Josh Pinter (57th, 26:43) and freshman Drew Craig (58th, 26:49) rounded out the Golden Eagles top scorers.

"We had a good race," Henderson said. "And we want to build on that."