Northwestern kicked off its postseason with a sixth-place finish in the Big Ten Cross Country Championships on Friday. Spearheaded by junior Katherine Hessler, the Wildcats collected their second highest placement in program history.

NU faced a stacked field that included No. 15 Michigan State and No. 22 Wisconsin, with both ranked opponents capturing first and second, respectively. Reigning Big Ten individual champion Addie Engel and Ohio State made for another tough contender, as the ‘Cats hoped to outperform them for a second time this season — but fell short by just two points.

Hessler placed fifth out of 154 runners, finishing with a 21:10.0 and securing a first team All-Big Ten nod. The junior extended NU’s first team all-conference streak to three seasons.

Senior Kalea Bartolotto finished 16th in 21:40.2, while junior Fiona Lenth, graduate student Adele Magaud and freshman Anna Delgado rounded out the team’s top-five runners. 

Hessler and Bartolotto saw significant success in the first portion of the race, coming through the 2K-split in second and fourth, respectively, and contributing to the team’s third-place standing at the 1.25 mile mark. The second half of the race proved more difficult, as Hessler came through 4K in eighth and Bartolotto fell to 17th.

The ‘Cats now look forward to their next postseason event, November’s NCAA Midwest Regional, where coach Jill Miller’s squad will face off against two top 25 teams. A top-two finish at the Midwest Regional would clinch the program’s second consecutive NCAA Championship bid.

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