DeBruyn leads tightly packed Wildcats at Phoenix Open cross country
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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Junior Ella DeBruyn led a tight pack of teammates from the women's cross country team at Northern Michigan University to a runner-up finish at the seven-team Phoenix Open meet hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in the same city on Saturday.
DeBruyn finished fourth on the six-kilometer (3.7-mile) course in 22 minutes, 46.9 seconds, with sophomore teammate Ashley Choponis three seconds later in fifth in 22:49.9. DeBruyn's time was a personal best by nearly 45 seconds with her old standard being 23:29.6.
Senior teammate Lamar Gordon was less than two seconds further back in sixth place in 22:51.7.
Ishpeming High School graduate Lola Korpi, an NMU junior, was 12th in 23:13.0, while senior Dani Van Lente was 26th in 23:52.6 and junior Anya VanSweden 27th in 23:53.2.
In her first collegiate race, Wildcats freshman Addison Jones was seventh for NMU and the last scoring team member, coming in 31st in 23:54.6. Adding insurance for Northern were three more freshmen, Sophia Nunnery in 32nd in 23:55.4, Macy Guikema 37th in 24:13.2 and Audrey Hamilton 48th in 24:26.2.
The Wildcats totaled 50 points, comfortably ensconced in second place. St. Thomas won with 28, while Marquette University and Wisconsin-Stevens Point tied for third with 121 apiece, Marquette winning the tiebreaker for third.
Host UWGB was fifth with 123, while Milwaukee had 129 and Wisconsin-Oshkosh seventh at 142.
Junior Olivia Pauly of St. Thomas won the race in 22:18.3, just over a second ahead of runner-up Faith Wehrman, a sophomore at Stevens Point, who clocked 22:19.6. Sophomore Lindsay Berg of St. Thomas was third in 22:21.5, just ahead of DeBruyn.
The Wildcats keep their running shoes warm by heading to Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota-hosted Roy Griak Invitational on Friday.
Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.