Competing against a stacked field of 33 top teams from around the country, Northwestern, ranked No. 22 in the USTFCCCA national rankings and No. 5 in the regional rankings, finished 11th in the Nuttycombe Invitational.
The team traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, to race at the invitational named after Ed Nuttycombe, the winningest cross country and track coach in Big Ten history. The course is known for its intensity, with rolling hills and a tough climb right before the finish line. However, that didn’t
stop the Wildcats from having four runners in the top 100, beating No. 11 Stanford and securing the highest finish in the Big Ten, outdueling seven of their in-conference foes.
Skye Ellis led the pack of Wildcats, crossing the line 46th overall with a time of 20:14.7, 24 seconds off her personal best from last year’s NCAA championships. Ellis finished 45 seconds faster than her Nuttycombe time last year. 15 seconds behind Ellis, senior Ava Criniti rolled in with 20:29.7, finishing 66th overall. Criniti previously finished ninth in the meet at Loyola.
Senior Katie Clute, an Oregon transfer running her first meet of the year at Nuttycombe, was the next to cross the line for the Wildcats, posting a time of 20:36.6, placing her 74th in the field and third for the ‘Cats.
The last runner to place in the top 100 of the over-200 athlete field was junior Cary Drake, running within 10 seconds of Katie Clure, with a time of 20:42.6 and placing 86th in the field. The time is a new personal best for Drake, beating her time from last year’s Loyola Invitational, 20:50.5.
To round out the scoring, the fifth Wildcat runner was Jackie Holman, a two-time academic All-Big Ten and 2025 USTFCCCA All-Region runner. Holman placed 136th with a time of 21:06.7.
The Wildcats now get a three-week break before their next meet, which will be back in Madison, Wisconsin, for the Big Ten Championships. This marks the start of their postseason meet series. This three-week break gives them ample time to get in some good runs, surge past the competition and compete against ranked teams like they did this past weekend.
