Junior Skye Ellis and senior Anna Hightower both ran the 5,000-meter at the Penn Relays Thursday.
Ellis finished in 14th place with a 16:15.62 time. She secured her personal best in the event, topping her time of 16:32.88 set at the Raleigh Relays in March. By shaving over 17 seconds off of her time, the Jan Juc, Australia native holds the fourth fastest 5,000-meter run in program history.
During the 2025 calendar year, Ellis has already set two program records, the first coming in February when she set the 800-meter record at the Blue Demon Alumni Classic in February and the latter being the 1,500-meter earlier this month at the Spartan Invitational.
Less than 10 seconds after Ellis crossed the finish line, Hightower followed suit. With a time of 16:24.56, Hightower secured an 18th-place finish. She came fewer than two seconds short of her personal best in the 5,000-meter, which she set in 2023 at the Bryan Clay Invitational. It was her season-best result in the event, however.
Northwestern will participate in its final meet of the outdoor season on May 2 when it travels to Madison, Wisconsin, for the Wisconsin Twilight.
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Related Stories:
— Cross Country: Ellis breaks second program record, takes first place at Spartan Invitational
— Cross Country: Ellis cracks NU 5,000-meter top-10 leaderboard at Raleigh Relays
— Cross Country: Two Wildcats near program record with efforts at David Hemery Valentine Invitational
