Northern Michigan University’s Dani Van Lente, left, follows teammate Gianna Hoving during the women’s college race at the Wildcat Invitational cross country meet held at and around Northern Michigan University in Marquette on Aug. 23. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Northern Michigan University women’s cross country team finished in sixth place among 10 teams at the season-opening Phoenix Open hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday.

A pair of sophomores led the Wildcats with top-25 finishes on the 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) course. Dani Van Lente placed 19th in 23 minutes, 5.2 seconds, while teammate Emma Sweeney was 24th in 23:16.1.

Three other NMU runners also broke into the top 50 to round out team scorers. Sophomore Lamar Gordon took 39th in 23:41.1, freshman Celia Wallace was 40th in 23:43.4 and Ishpeming High School graduate and NMU freshman Lola Korpi crossed in 45th in 23:48.5.

Northern freshman Anya VanSweden took 51st in 23:55.1 and junior Beverly Harper made it in 55th place in 24:00.1.

Wallace, Korpi and VanSweden were all participating in their first collegiate competition as 166 runners finished.

Also for the Wildcats, Brooke Lemos was 59th, Gianna Hoving 60th, Elliott Smith 63rd, Claire Waligorski 99th, Skylar Grubb 102nd, Sophia Potter 108th, Paige Anderson 117th, Samantha Zolnierek 121st, Ella DeBruyn 128th, Negaunee High School grad Endla Harris 138th, Taryn Maki 148th and Hannah Mason 160th.

Winona State won the team competition with 39 points, while Purdue-Fort Wayne was runner-up with 66 as NMU’s sixth-place total was 166, one spot behind Michigan Tech’s 131.

Anelise Egge of Wisconsin-Milwaukee won in 21:39.5, about 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Sophia Taarud in 21:54.2 as Winona’s McKenna Taylor was third in 22:16.5.

NMU’s Van Lente and Sweeney were both within a minute of Taylor.

Northern is off this weekend before heading to the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota in St. Paul on Friday, Sept. 20.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.