The NMU women’s cross country team defeated Lake Superior State University (LSSU) last Friday in Sault Ste. Marie with a score of 25-48. This was the team’s first meet of the season.
“It went pretty well for our first meet,” said head coach Jenny Ryan. “Our girls ran well, with three upper classmen up at the front and a mix of freshmen and upperclassmen.”
The Wildcats were led by captain Bibiane Mahy, who won the meet with a time of 20:19 on the 5.25 kilometer course. Mahy finished only 8 seconds ahead of LSSU’s Katie Scott, who finished with a time of 20:27.
“I was really happy with myself and my team,” said Mahy. “I just hope that the success continues throughout the season.”
Mahy also made the GLIAC Women’s Cross Country Weekly Honor Roll for the week. The recognition is given to the runners-up for the GLIAC Runner of the Week award.
Five other Wildcats finished in the top 10. Laura DeWitt was fourth with a time of 20:49.00. She was followed by Jenny Wiedmeyer in fifth place and Kristen Schultz in sixth. Christina Gillis and Nicole Bougher rounded out the top 10, finishing ninth and tenth, respectively.
The course did throw the Northern runners a few curve balls, however. The course at LSSU has a large amount of wet sand and rolling hills and the 5.25-km course is the only one of that distance in the country.
Adding anther level of difficulty was the fact that the air was very humid.
“It rained the whole way over there,” said Ryan. “The rain really changed the feel of the course.”
Freshman Kirstin Hoklas agreed, saying the turns were more difficult due to the consistency of the wet sand.
“The sand felt great during warmups because it was all packed down,” said Bougher, a freshman on the team. “But as the race went on, the course dried up and our spikes just tore it apart. It was still a good race because it gave me a chance to compete on the collegiate level for the first time.”
In fact, the race was the first for many of the runners in the field.
“The pace was quick,” said Hoklas. Hoklas finished as the third freshman overall behind Bougher and Schulz in her first collegiate race.
Other conference teams also did well this week. Fourth-ranked Grand Valley State won the Aquinas Open,.Findlay won the University of Defiance (OH) and Michigan Tech scored a narrow win over the University of Minnesota Duluth.
“Early in the season you deal with different times and wait to worry after a couple of meets,” Ryan said. “But its good to have a tough conference, between that will push up the competition.”
The team will have one of their toughest meets this weekend at the Midwest Open in Kenosha, Wis. The team will have to face tenth ranked University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and conference foes Michigan Tech and Wayne State.
