The cold was numbing on the Blue Golf Course Saturday, but Delta Upsilon fraternity didn't seem to care as it cruised to victory in the Intramural Fraternity Cross Country Championships.

Jim Martinko and John Andersen placed first and fourth for Delta Upsilon and were followed by Greg Auxer and John Pak for a team total of 19 points. Kappa Delta Rho fraternity finished second with 30 points and Triangle fraternity was third with 42.

"All my friends know I've been worried sick about this all night (before the race)," said Martinko, who won for the second consecutive year. "We've been talking about it for a long time."

Andersen agreed: "We were very psyched up -- we knew we had a good shot to win it."

Martinko, finishing with a time of 17:54 to calls of "Skeeter!" from the other Delta Upsilon members, ran away from the rest of the leaders at the two-mile mark, third-place finisher Dave Sample of Triangle said. He finished 13 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Scott Solekowicz of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. Solekowicz, however, was involved in a battle between second, third and fourth place a few hundred yards from the end.

Sample said he thought Andersen had him when Solekowicz caught up with them. Sample then worked with Solekowicz to pull away from Andersen and Solekowicz pulled away from him at the end.

Andersen felt that he started to lose Martinko and Sample at the one- and-a-half mile mark. After Solekowicz joined them, the three went back and forth. Andersen said he tried to overtake the group, but in the end, it just outran him.

Delta Upsilon's title was sealed by a 14th place finish by Auxer, who added a burst of speed to ward off a last-minute sprint from behind. Auxer wasn't even aware of the threat until the other Delta Upsilon members started yelling at him, Auxer said.

Delta Upsilon also won the IM Fraternity Track Championship last year and Martinko is the current IM Fraternity Champion in the 1500-meter run. He has run one marathon with Andersen and will run the Washington Marathon in two weeks. Pak plans to run the New York Marathon.

The fraternity intends to be a presence for some time to come; Martinko promised that Delta Upsilon will be back next year -- with many of the same runners.