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

MARQUETTE — Senior Madi Szymanski of the women’s cross country team at Northern Michigan University has earned a major conference honor again.

She was named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week in cross country after her third top-10 finish this season, this time coming at the Lucian Rose Invitational in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside, the six-kilometer (3.73-mile) race featured more than 200 runners as Szymanski finished ninth in a season-best 21 minutes, 37.1 seconds.

That led the Wildcats to a fourth-place finish and ahead of several nationally ranked teams, including No. 12 Lee (Tennessee), No. 15 Colorado State-Pueblo, No. 24 Minnesota State-Mankato, No. 25 Parkside and No. 26 Cal Poly Pomona.

The three teams that finished ahead of Northern each were ranked in the top 10 — Colorado School of Mines, Adams State and Colorado-Colorado Springs.

NMU itself received votes but didn’t crack the top 30 in last week’s U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national poll, so there’s hopes the Wildcats will, along with rising from No. 6 in the Midwest Region.

Last week, Szymanski also was named GLIAC Cross Country Athlete of the Week after running in 23:15.8 for fifth place at the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Her first official run of the season was in 22:14.8 for fifth place at the Phoenix Open in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and hosted by UW-Green Bay.

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