The Northern Michigan University women’s cross country team will travel to Evansville, Ind. to compete in the NCAA Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 7.
The Wildcats competed in the GLIAC Championships on Saturday, Oct. 24 and placed third out of 16 schools in the meet.
Five ’Cats finished in the top 20. Leading the Wildcats was sophomore Kameron Burmeister, who placed 10th with a time of 22:19.6 in the women’s 6k.
For the second-straight season Burmeister claimed a spot on the all-GLIAC first team.
“I feel very honored to have been able to make the GLIAC conference first team,” Burmeister said. “There are so many talented runners in our conference and it is always very exciting to be able to run with them.”
Freshman Sophie McDonald was the second Wildcat to finish, coming in 11th with a time of 22:30:6. McDonald made the all-GLIAC second team.
Senior Megan Edic (13th), sophomore Vivian Hett (15th), and senior Caroline Brisbois (20th) also made the all-GLIAC second team with McDonald.
“The team ran extremely well,” head coach Jenny Ryan said. “It was a strong performance by everyone on the team and I am very proud of this great group.”
The Wildcats earned 69 points as a team in the meet. Grand Valley State won the team title with 30 points, while Hillsdale finished second with 38 points.
The ’Cats moved up to eighth in the NCAA Division II women’s cross country national coaches’ poll that was released on Wednesday, Oct. 28 by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
“It was exciting for the team to be ranked so high in the entire country,” Ryan said. “It is great to be recognized as a strong team after all the hard work the athletes have put in the last few years.”
NMU has appeared in the top 10 in six of the 10 polls this season.
The Wildcats are one of four teams who will be ranked from the GLIAC conference at the NCAA regionals, along with No. 1 Grand Valley State, No. 3 Hillsdale and No. 25 Malone.
Schools from the Great Lakes Valley Conference, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference will compete in the Midwest region. Around 30 teams and 200 student athletes will be competing in the women’s 6k race.
“We are prepared for regionals and very excited to finally be able to run at this NCAA qualifying meet,” Burmeister said. “All of the returning runners from last year including myself are very ready to be able to try and take this team to nationals this year.”
The team had a bigger week of training last week after the GLIAC race and is tapering a bit this week so everyone can feel fast and ready to go the day of the regional race, according to Ryan.
“This team has worked hard all season and has had an exceptional year,” Ryan said. “It is an exciting time for this team and we look forward to racing the rest of the season to show the country how tough the NMU Wildcats are.”
