Northern Michigan University’s Madi Szymanski leads the rest of her Wildcats teammates near the start of the collegiate part of the Wildcat Open cross country meet held on campus in Marquette on Aug. 22. (Photo courtesy of Cara Kamps)

MINNEAPOLIS — Senior Madi Szymanski of the women’s cross country team at Northern Michigan University was recognized for leading the Wildcats to their best finish in nearly a decade at the Roy Griak Invitational meet hosted by the University of Minnesota on Saturday.

The NMU senior from Alpena was named Athlete of the Week by the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as she finished in fifth place in a field of 280 NCAA Division II and III women runners.

Competing in the Suzy Wilson Women’s Maroon Race, Szymanski led Northern to a third-place team finish out of two dozen teams with 74 points.

This was the Wildcats best finish since 2016 at one of the country’s most prestigious college cross country meets.

A pair of nationally ranked teams from the event’s home state of Minnesota were the only schools ahead of the Wildcats, No. 22 Winona State winning with 27 points and No. 13 Minnesota State-Mankato second with 66.

Minnesota-Duluth was a distant fourth with 118, No. 9 Dordt (Iowa) fifth with 137 and Michigan Tech sixth with 161. Also from the GLIAC, Ferris State was ninth with 274.

Syzmanski clocked 23 minutes, 15.8 seconds on the six-kilometer (3.7-mile) course. NMU Sports Information reported in a news release detailing Szymanski’s GLIAC honor that she was in sixth place at the race’s halfway point and down to seventh at the final marker one kilometer before the finish.

But she ran that last kilometer (about six-tenths of a mile) in 4:08.2, the second-fastest time in the field for that span, to move up in the standings. While finishing nearly a minute behind winner Sophia Taarud of Winona in 22:19.4, the Northern runner was still caught up in quite a logjam. She finished just over four seconds out of third place and a second and a half out of fourth, but also less than 30 seconds ahead of the next 11 finishers.

This is quite a comeback for Szymanski, who was Northern’s leading runner until an injury sidelined her for the rest of last season right about this time in 2024. She was named all-region and First Team All-GLIAC in 2023.

However, the Wildcats couldn’t have had their high finish Saturday just on the strength of Szymanski’s legs — another half-dozen of her teammates all finished in the top 30.

NMU freshman Ashley Choponis was eighth in 23:27.7, just 12 seconds after Szymanski, while junior Lamar Gordon was 14th in 23:39.0, another 12 seconds later.

Bunched within 15 seconds of each other was junior Emma Sweeney, 23rd in 24:07.8; junior Dani VanLente, 24th in 24:13.3; senior Beverly Harper, 27th in 24:16.3; and senior Sophia Potter, 30th in 24:20.1.

Another half-dozen Northern runners also cracked the top 100. Madalyn Agren was 50th in 24:57.5; Celia Wallace 54th in 25:00.5; Ella DeBruyn 61st in 25:10.9; Lola Korpi, an Ishpeming High School graduate, 63rd in 25:11.8; Maija Maki-Warne, a Marquette product, 69th in 25:18.9; and Paige Anderson 86th in 25:38.8.

Four others from NMU also finished — Anya VanSweden was 103rd, Lana Mac 107th, Monet Argeropoulos 205th and Elliott Smith 220th. Argeropoulos is an MSHS grad.

The Wildcats get minimal rest before heading out of state again this week, going to the Lucian Rosa Invitational hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin, at 10:30 a.m. EDT Saturday.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing/previewing the games/meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.