Northern Michigan University’s Cross Country team outran four top-ranked programs at the Conference Crossover Invitational hosted by Lewis University on Saturday, Oct. 7.

After sitting some time out due to injury, senior Kameron Burmeister of Menominee, Michigan, topped the Wildcats crossing the finish line in 10th place with a time of 22 minutes and 1.8 seconds.

Cross Country head coach Jenny Ryan said throughout the season there have been some injuries that have kept some runners from competing, in turn preventing the team from competing at its full strength.

“It was really fun to see what we could do as a team with all of our runners healthy,” Ryan said. “We had a really strong performance and everybody ran strong.”

Ryan noted that the muddiness of the course and the windy weather made the race more challenging for the runners.

“It was a pretty difficult course, but I have a very tough team,” said Ryan. “They all performed very well and everyone had a great attitude.

Sophomore Katelyn Smith of Gaylord, Michigan and senior Vivian Hett of Burnsville, Minnesota finished back to back in 19th and 20th with times of 22:21.8 and 22:22.8.

The two other top five finishers for the Wildcats were junior Sophie McDonald of Park City, Utah, with a time of 23:20.1 coming in at 77th, and senior Kieren Becker of Fowler, Michigan with a time of 23:23 coming in at 82nd.

“It has definitely been a great season this far with great performances from all my runners,” Ryan added. “I am very happy with the way things have went this year.”

The Wildcats finished sixth as a team behind four of the highest ranked programs including Grand Valley State, who has currently been ranked
as No. 1 in the Nation.

Ryan explained that moving forward, Grand Valley is the main competition, but she is working hard to prepare her team for the GLIAC Conference Championship on Oct. 21. Northern Michigan University will be hosting the event for the first time since 2005.

“They [Grand Valley] will definitely be a hard team to beat,” said Ryan. “But I
think we have a very good shot at placing second in the conference this year.”