While most Northwestern students spent Saturday unpacking, the NU women’s cross country team was in the heat of competition.

Even though NU coach Amy Tush started her second team when the Wildcats traveled to Kenosha, Wisc., for the Midwest Open, the Cats made a strong showing with a 17th-place finish, scoring 507 points. The 30-team race was won by Northern Michigan with a score of 32.

Sophomore Caroline Speirs was the top finisher for the Cats, completing the five-kilometer course in 20:24, followed by Nicole Kalogeropoulos at 20:30. By resting her top runners, Tush gave others the chance to gain competitive experience.

In NU’s first meet, the Illinois State Open on Sept. 14, the team had to compete without its top runner. With senior Rachel Evjen out with a minor ankle injury, Nicole Kunzia was left to lead the team. Surpassing expectations, Kunzia earned her first individual title by running the six-kilometer course in 22:46, beating out Loyola’s Kristyne McGuinn by three seconds. NU also took fifth through seventh places, giving the team a cushion over the other six teams.

Senior Laura Evans finished sixth with a time of 23:03. She was expected to be a key runner for the Cats last year, but injuries kept her out of competition.

Depth is the biggest strength for the team this year, and it was tested early in the season when Evjen was sidelined. She has been practicing with the team and ran a light jog around the course at Illinois State. She reports only a little pain and expects to start next weekend.

NU will need the senior when it travels to Minneapolis for its first big test of the season at the Roy Griak Invitational. The Cats will face their stiffest competition thus far against nationally ranked teams.

“We’ll know how good we are after next week,” Tush said. “We’ve got a really deep team with a strong senior class and a lot of freshmen looking to step up.”