Senior Ava Earl finished in eighth place, graduate student Chloe Wellings finished in ninth and Northwestern cross country claimed its third straight top-three finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional Friday.
Earl ran a team-best 20:03.7, while Wellings finished half a second behind her, running a personal-best 20:04.3.
Redshirt first-year Ava Criniti blazed a 20:30.5, finishing in 25th, as she, Earl and Wellings earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors.
Graduate student Katherine Hessler finished in 30th place, running a 20:36.0. Graduate student Holly Smith finished one place behind Hessler, crossing the line in 20:36.9 to round out NU’s scoring.
Sophomore Jackie Holman and junior Maddy Whitman also competed in the race, which was held at Bradley University’s Newman Golf Course in Peoria.
Oklahoma State took home top honors in the race while Minnesota took second place as a team. Those two squads earned automatic qualifiers to the NCAA national championship.
The ’Cats did not receive any at-large bids for the national championship, either as a team or for individual runners, meaning its cross country season is over. The squad will now look toward the winter’s indoor track slate.
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