No. 8 Northwestern rounded out the podium at the Big Ten Championship in East Lansing, Michigan on Friday. The Wildcats’ combined 96 points was bested only by No. 12 Penn State (78 points) and No. 4 Oregon (18 points), achieving their best team result at the conference meet since 1986.
Three ’Cats ran their way to All-Big Ten honors. Graduate student Ava Earl was named to the Second Team All-Big Ten for the second year in a row after placing 13th in the women’s 6k with a time of 20:24.5.
Redshirt sophomore Ava Criniti finished less than a second after Earl, clocking a 20:25.4 and receiving Second Team All-Big Ten honors for the first time. Senior Maddy Whitman’s 6k was a season-best 20:29.9, earning her the first Second Team All-Big Ten nod of her career.
Graduate students Holly Smith and Anna Hightower closed out NU’s top five performers. Smith placed 24th with a 20:34.1, and Hightower finished 28th with a 20:39.4.
This result marks NU’s fourth top-3 finish of the season. The ’Cats placed first at the Cowboy Preview in Stillwater, Oklahoma and the Big Ten Preview in East Lansing, Michigan, as well as second at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago. NU’s only result outside of the top three was a fifth-place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin.
The ’Cats will continue their postseason with a meet in Stillwater, Oklahoma for the NCAA Midwest Regional on Friday, Nov. 14. The meet begins at 10:30 a.m.
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