MARQUETTE, Mich. – After two weeks off, the Northern Michigan cross country team is back in action this weekend, racing in the Lucian Rosa Invite in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Saturday, October 10, at 12 p.m. ET. The meet will be hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside.
NMU has run well through two meets this season, taking 2nd of 7 at the Phoenix Open and 10th of 17 (3rd among DII) at the Roy Griak Invite. Now in its 3rd of five regular season meets, the Wildcats will look to improve upon their 8th-place ranking in the latest USTFCCCA Midwest Regional rankings.
On September 18, junior
Ella DeBruyn led the way for the Green and Gold at the Roy Griak. She ran a PR of 21:21.3 for 49th place, which was the fifth-best time among all Division II runners.
Ashley Choponis crossed the finish line at 21:35.0 for 65th place, just edging her previous career-best time by three seconds. She finished ninth among DII runners.
Right behind Choponis was
Lamar Gordon in 66th with a time of 21:35.4. Yet another PR for the Wildcats, Gordon finished 10th among DII competition.
Lola Korpi had the best race of her career, finishing in 21:56.5 for 83rd place. Freshman
Macy Guikema and junior
Anya VanSweden also recorded personal bests and finished inside the top 100, crossing at 22:10.3 and 22:11.2, respectively.
Several other Wildcats recorded PRs in the race, including
Addison Jones (22:21.3), Dani VanLente (22:21.5),
Audrey Hamilton (22:42.5),
Sophia Nunnery (22:47.9),
Tania Boonstra (23:05.5),
Sarah Stein (23:50.9),
Emma Dell (23:52.6),
Samantha Zolnierek (24:32.9), and
Anne Hamilton (24:39.6).
At the season-opening Phoenix Open, DeBruyn paced the Northern group with a 4th-place finish at 22:46.9. Choponis slotted in right behind DeBruyn in 5th (22:49.9), Gordon followed in 6th (22:51.7), and Korpi was 12th (23:13.0).
It'll be a familiar course for the Wildcats, as they ran it three times last season. At the Lucian Rosa, they finished 4th of 23 teams. They returned to Kenosha for the Midwest Regional Championship, where they placed 4th of 32 teams and again for the NCAA Championship meet, where NMU competed as a team for the first time since 2017.
