At last season’s NCAA Regional Championships, Northwestern put together its second consecutive top-15 finish at the event.

For the Wildcats to extend their winning streak to three this weekend, the team’s success will have to come from near the back of its pack.

Lacking a true front runner, NU has relied on a balanced team effort. The key to successful group running is having strong middle-of-the-pack runners who can beat out other teams’ final scorers, which allows teams to make up the points it loses to teams with top individual finishers.

Sophomore Rachel Edwards has emerged as NU’s fifth runner, a key position because the fifth finisher is the final scorer.

“She’s progressed quite a bit this season,” coach April Likhite said. “She’s been very consistent. Her workouts are obviously turning over into her races.”

Edwards has moved up the pecking order throughout the season. At the Huskie Open early in the season, she finished as NU’s eighth runner.

But by last weekend’s Big Ten Championships, Edwards secured her spot as the Cats’ fifth runner. Although the course at this year’s conference meet was faster than last year’s, Edwards’ one-minute improvement over her freshman season highlighted the strides she has made this year.

“A lot of it is just being used to competing at the Division-I level in the Big Ten and adapting to the new training style,” Edwards said. “Collegiate running is an entire lifestyle. With high school running, you run and go home back to regular life. With collegiate running, everything you do all day everyday affects your running.”

Edwards’ development comes despite dealing with injuries during her time on campus. As a freshman, Edwards dealt with a series of shin injuries. This year, she has battled hip trouble.

“I thought this season would kind of be a waste,” Edwards said. “I honestly didn’t think I’d make it to the end of the season. To see improvement over last year on top of that is kind of an added bonus.”

For NU to place among the top-15 at the Regional, it will need a solid performance from its entire pack, including Edwards. Unlike last season, NU has failed to break into its region’s regular season rankings.

After finishing at the bottom of the conference meet two weeks ago, NU will benefit from the larger field at the Regional, which could help propel it to a higher-than-expected finish.

“What’s best about Regionals for us is we can (have) one more race against teams we can compete (with),” Likhite said. “Here, there’s 31 teams, many of them we’ve beaten this year, so it’s a good chance for us to get out and race. If we could walk away still with a top-15 finish, that would be great. I do believe if all of girls saved their best races for their last one, we do have a chance to break into the top-15.”[email protected]