ST. PAUL, Minn. — Senior Madison Malon paced her Northern Michigan University women’s cross country team to a ninth-place finish out of 30 teams in their division at the Roy Griak Invitational held Friday afternoon and hosted by the University of Minnesota.

Malon finished 21st in 23 minutes, 24.6 seconds in the women’s Maroon Division, less than 2 1/2 minutes behind race winner Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State (Minnesota), who finished in 21:05.6.

NMU’s second finisher was senior Emily Sterling in 48th place in 24:00.3, while freshman Madi Szymanski was 68th in 24:21.3.

Freshman teammate Gianna Hoving was 81st in 24:36.1, while Negaunee High School graduate and NMU junior Talon Prusi was 87th in 24:41.0 among nearly 400 runners.

Minnesota-Duluth won the team trophy with Winona State runner-up and Wisconsin-La Crosse third.

Next up for the Wildcats is a trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Oct. 8 for the Lucian Rosa Invitational hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside.