MARQUETTE, Mich. – The No. 12-ranked Northern Michigan women's cross country team will make the trip from Marquette back to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to compete in the NCAA Division II National Championship for the first time since 2017.
The Wildcats are coming off a strong finish in the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship, where they finished fourth out of 32 teams. The Wildcats return to the same course they were on two weeks ago for the Regionals, as they once again race on UW-Parkside's Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course, where they have finished fourth at both the Lucian Rosa Invite and the Regional Championship. Saturday's race is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET.
NMU remains ranked No.12 nationally and fourth in the Midwest Region by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). In 2017, Northern placed 13th out of 32 teams.
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From the Coach
"We were really happy when we finished fourth, and then I knew we had a pretty much 99% chance that we would be in the National Championships."
Last Time Out
The No. 12 Wildcats continued its excellent season, finishing in fourth out of 32 teams at the NCAA Division II Regional Championships. NMU was led by All-Region honorees
Madi Szymanski and
Ashley Choponis, who propelled the team to its best finish in the NCAA Midwest Regionals since 2017, where they also placed fourth.
In a race of just under 200 runners, the Wildcats were once again paced by First-Team All GLIAC selection, and now All-Region member,
Madi Szymanski. She placed 11th with a time of 21:17.45. Not far behind Szymanski was freshman phenom and Second-Team All GLIAC selection,
Ashley Choponis, who placed 20th at 21:41.78. That earned her All-Region accolades as well.
Behind the leaders were a pack of Wildcats. That group was led by
Sophia Potter in 40th (22:12.20), followed by
Lamar Gordon in 43rd (22:15.65),
Beverly Harper in 46th (22:20.54), and
Emma Sweeney in 49th (22:26.00).
Finishing just outside the top-50 and rounding out the Wildcat seven-runner lineup was Dani VanLente, who placed 56th with a time of 22:38.43.
As a team, the Wildcats finished in 4th with 160 team points, which placed them behind the winner Grand Valley State (25), as well as Cedarville (87) and Lewis (90).
Last Time at the National Championships
The last time the Wildcats were at the National Championships was in 2017. The race was in Evansville, Indiana, hosted by the University of Southern Indiana. That year, as a team, the Wildcats finished 13th with 389 points, making a steady climb up the standings from the start of the race. NMU improved their standing at each of the races' six kilometers, coming in at 24th after the first kilometer and continuing to move up the field throughout the race. The Wildcats were led by runners who placed in 26th, 56th, and 88th.
