Northwestern cross-country travelled to Stillwater, Oklahoma on Friday to participate in the D1 Midwest Regionals. The ‘Cats finished in the top two of the women’s team rankings, securing an automatic bid to the NCAA National Championship later this month.
The women’s 6k started at 9:00 a.m. at the Grenier Family XC Course with seven runners representing Northwestern. The race started off rocky for the ‘Cats, with Anna Hightower (16th) and Holly Smith (22nd) as the only NU runners to be in the top
25 through the first 1114 meters.
By the 4k mark, however, the ‘Cats had found their stride. Smith (16th) and Hightower (19th) were accompanied by Ava Earl (18th), Skye Ellis (20th), Maddy Whitman (22nd) and Jackie Holman (23rd) as the NU runners treated the regional championships like a team practice, taking up seven of nine consecutive positions with one third of the race left.
From there, Northwestern only increased its standing as five runners moved into the top 20. Earl (15th), Ellis (16th), Holman (17th), Whitman (18th) and Smith (20th) continued their championship-qualifying quest alongside each other, punching NU’s ticket to the national championship and all receiving USTFCCCA All-Region selections. Hightower finished 28th and Ava Criniti did not finish the race.
Though not having any top ten finishes, the ‘Cats relied on quantity to oust Iowa State, which had three runners in the top ten, with 86 points compared to the Cyclones’ 108. Oklahoma State topped the Midwest Regional, also qualifying for the national championship, with 55 points. USTFCCCA had projected ISU and OSU to receive the automatic bids out of the Midwest, so the ‘Cats (who were projected to finish third) pulled off the upset to keep their season alive.
Northwestern will travel to Columbia, MO, on Nov. 22 to compete in the NCAA D1 National Championship, seeking to win it all for the first time in program history.
