MARQUETTE – The Northern Michigan University women’s cross country team closed out its regular season Friday by winning the Upper Peninsula Championships.

The Wildcats finished with 17 points to win the meet, while Michigan Tech compiled 46.

Lake Superior State did not compete this year, but Gogebic Community College did participate (no team score).

NMU had seven runners finish in the top eight with junior Megan Edic winning it with a time of 21 minutes, 52.3 seconds.

Wildcat freshmen Kameron Burmeister of Menominee and freshman Caroline Brisbois were right behind with times of 21:59.1 and 22:18.0, respectively

Michigan Tech’s top two runners were Deedra Irwin (fourth, 22:24.1), Emily Vigil (ninth, 23:50.8) and Sonja Hedblom (10th, 24:03.5).

“We had a great day,” Wildcats head coach Jenny Ryan said. “Megan has been anywhere from number two to number five, so she did very well.

“Kameron has been our number one runner for most of the year and Caroline has also stepped up.

“We don’t always have freshmen runners perform that well, but I knew when they joined the team they had a lot of talent and they showed it,” she added.

Burmeister was proud of her runner-up performance as she continues her impressive freshman year.

“I really liked how I did,” she said. “That was the fastest time I’d run in a 6K so far and it was nice to have Megan push me during the race.”

The Wildcats will compete in the GLIAC Championships Nov. 8 in Tiffin, Ohio. Ryan likes how her team looks heading into the meet.

“The GLIAC is a strong conference, but we are running very well right now,” she said. “We’ve been training hard and I like our chances.

“It will be exciting to see how we’ll do.”

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.