After posting their best season in recent memory, the Wildcats head to Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday for the Big Ten Championships.

While the Cats certainly aren’t reveling in their improvement, it hasn’t slipped their minds that they’re coming off of two straight last place finishes at the conference championships. But there’s no denying the difference between the current team and that of a year ago, and the runners carry with them an air of confidence that was missing at the past two conference championships.

“I’d say last year there was a lot of fear going into the race, and this year there’s a lot of excitement,” junior Carly Brown said.

After the results they’ve posted so far this season, the Cats have reason to be eager. In its past two races, Northwestern finished sixth in a field of 27 at the adidas Invitational and third at the 17-team Bradley Invitational, all the while earning the No. 12 spot in the Midwest regional rankings.

Of course, success is relative, and the Cats aren’t expecting to go from worst to first. In a conference chock full of top-30 squads, NU is eyeing Indiana, Purdue and Ohio State – which it defeated by nearly 200 points at a meet earlier this year as the teams to beat.

“Realistically, (seventh place) is out of our reach,” NU coach April Likhite said. “And eighth isn’t a given for us. We definitely have to go up there and race, keeping in mind anything can happen. Eighth place isn’t going to be handed to us at this point.”

If the Cats are to achieve their goal, they’ll need another strong performance from Brown, their top runner in four of the five races she’s run this season. Just a year removed from placing 79th at the Big Ten championships, third-best on the team, the Kalispell, Mont., native is expected to go out with the lead pack on Sunday.

Brown’s improvement serves as the quintessential example of NU’s 12-month turnaround. Both she and sophomore teammate Paulina Garcia laughed when asked how this year compares to 2006, before Brown – trying her best to remain polite and politically correct – replied, “Overall, I’d just say there’s a lot more control and confidence.”

Garcia, meanwhile, took the opportunity to reiterate NU’s confidence.

“I think we’re ready to do better than we did last year,” Garcia said. “I think all of us know that we can run a lot better, and we’ve put the time in at practice, and we’ve run our heart out in practice. We’ve competed, and I think all the girls are ready to compete on Sunday.”

Reach Ben Larrison at [email protected].