Following a highly competitive meet Oct. 3 and with an eye toward the Pre-Nationals Invitational next week, Wildcats coach April Likhite looked at Saturday’s race as an opportunity to test her team’s depth.

As such, with several top Northwestern runners sitting this meet out, the Cats scored 138 points on their way to a fifth-place finish at the Lucian Rosa Invitational.

The meet was hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The race included 25 women’s teams and more than 250 runners. Teams from Northern Michigan, Saginaw Valley, Wayne State and the University of Chicago placed ahead of the Cats.

Junior Rachel Weathered led the way for NU, finishing the 5K race in 18:38.5 and placing 22nd individually.

Her teammates didn’t finish far behind. Junior Renee Wellman, running a time of 18:45.2, grabbed 26th individually. Behind her came fellow junior Megan O’Brien, finishing 29th with a time of 18:53.1.

Freshman and Wisconsin-native Sara Coffey placed 30th individually with a time of 18:53.7, and sophomore Ellen Schmitz rounded out the scorers for the Cats with a 34th-place finish and a time of 18:56.8.

NU finished first in Division I at this meet in 2013 while fielding their full team.

The Cats are back in action Saturday as they head to Terre Haute, Indiana, for the Pre-Nationals Invitational.

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