When the race clock struck 20:46.3 at the NCAA Midwest Regional, no runner on No. 11 Northwestern had finished yet.
Coach Jill Miller’s team had traveled to Stillwater, Oklahoma with hopes of a top-two finish that would guarantee it a spot in the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 22. Four Oklahoma State runners and three Iowa State runners, the only two regional teams ranked above NU, had already finished.
Over the next .4 seconds, however, three ’Cats had crossed the checkered flag in a nearly in-sync finish, securing 15th, 16th and 17th places.
Of the next three racers to finish, two of them were also for NU, completing an epic team effort that secured the team second place and punched its ticket to the NCAA Championships.
Oklahoma State took home first with 55 points and also landed themselves a seat at the championship race, while Iowa State fell to third with 108 points.
NU was led by veteran graduate student Ava Earl, who finished first for the ’Cats in a time of 20:46.4. Redshirt junior Skye Ellis finished second just 0.2 seconds later. Junior Jackie Holman finished just 0.1 seconds after that. Senior Maddy Whitman was the next finisher in the race, coming in two seconds later at 20:48.7.
Graduate student Holly Smith finished 20th in 20:54.4. Anna Hightower was the last NU racer to finish in a time of 21:08.6, netting her 28th out of 229 finishers.
The five first NU finishers earned United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region honors.
Redshirt sophomore Ava Criniti, who has thus far had a breakout season and turned into a star of the team, did not finish the race. She led the Wildcats at the 4000 meter split in 12th place.
The team will have a week to rest before heading to Columbia, Missouri for the NCAA Championships. This will be its final event of the season and a chance for the ’Cats to tie a bow on what has already been a record-breaking season.
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