Marquette native Abby Harma leads a pack in the collegiate part of the Wildcat Open cross country meet held on campus in Marquette on Aug. 22. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

KENOSHA, Wis. — The women’s cross country team at Northern Michigan University finished only behind a trio of top-10 nationally ranked programs at the Lucian Rosa Invitational meet hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday.

The Wildcats, who themselves received votes in the most recent national poll conducted by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, also finished ahead of several other ranked squads.

NMU totaled 169 points to trail meet winner Colorado School of Mines with 51, Adams State with 77 and Colorado-Colorado Springs with 83. All are ranked in the top eight currently.

Finishing after Northern were Colorado State-Pueblo, which is ranked 15th nationally and scored 178 points on Saturday; Lee (Tennessee), 12th ranked with 232; Minnesota State-Mankato, 24th also with 232; Cal Poly-Pomona, 26th with 254; and the host Rangers, 25th with 380.

Several GLIAC members were also in attendance in addition to NMU and Parkside. Saginaw Valley State was 10th with 312 points, Wayne State 12th with 342, Lake Superior State 22nd with 664, and Purdue Northwest 23rd with 673.

With their third straight top-four finish, each in fields with nationally ranked competition, the Wildcats are poised to rise from their position as No. 6 in the Midwest Region and not quite cracking the top teams in national polling. NMU hasn’t been in the nation’s top 30 since October 2019, according to a NMU Sports Information release about the weekend meet.

Senior Madi Szymanski again led Northern with a ninth-place finish on the six-kilometer (3.73-mile) course in 21 minutes, 37.10 seconds. She finished just over a minute behind winner Grace Strongman of the Colorado School of Mines, who clocked 20:36.71.

CSM had the top three finishers, with Szymanski less than 10 seconds behind third-place Margaux Basart of CSM, who finished in 21:21.77.

The field included 207 runners.

Freshman Ashley Choponis was Northern’s second finisher in 18th place with a personal-best 21:51.92, while teammates Lamar Gordon and Sophia Potter also posted career bests while breaking into the top 50. Gordon was 41st in 22:28.88 and Potter 44th in 22:32.57.

NMU’s Emma Sweeney also had a personal record of 22:46.43 as she finished 60th, while Dani Van Lente was 73rd in 22:57.11 and Beverly Harper 84th in 23:08.30 to also score for the Wildcats.

In addition, Northern’s Madalyn Agren was 87th in 23:12.8, Ella DeBruyn 115th in 23:43.22 and Celia Wallace 133rd in 23:59.06.

In the open race for collegians not representing a specific team, NMU’s Maija Maki-Warne was runner-up in 23:53.05 and Anya VanSweden fifth in 24:03.7.

The Wildcats get this weekend off to prepare for the Royals Challenge in Charlotte, North Carolina, and hosted by Queens University on Friday, Oct. 10.

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.