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

MARQUETTE — Sporting a new ranking in the top 10 of its region, the women’s cross country team from Northern Michigan University travels to Minneapolis to compete at one of the biggest events in the country today.

The Wildcats will be at the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by Big 10 member Minnesota. It annually includes competition across almost all levels of schools, of course including collegiate divisions.

NMU’s race is scheduled to start at 1:15 p.m. EDT with Northern now listed in 10th in the latest regional rankings released by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Fans can follow @NMU_Track_Field and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) for updates leading up to and during the race.

Northern also participated in the Roy Griak Invite in 2024 and finished eighth of 24 teams in a race that featured more than 300 runners.

The Wildcats had four runners in the top 50 that day, led by Madi Szymanski in 23 minutes, 41.0 seconds to take 20th place. Not far behind was sophomore Dani Van Lente, placing 26th in 24:00.5.

And teammate Lamar Gordon also cracked the top 50 in 24:29.9.

Augustana won the meet with the University of Mary runner-up.

“And then that group that was behind her (Madi Szymanski) has moved up, which is really great,” Northern head coach Jenny Ryan said in an NMU Sports Information news release about this year’s runners. “We have a couple of freshmen who are right in the mix too, which is also exciting.

“We have a few freshmen, a few juniors and a few sophomores who are all right in there competing.”

Two weeks ago, the Wildcats got their season off to a great start by finishing as runners-up at the Phoenix Open hosted by NCAA Division I Wisconsin-Green Bay on Sept. 6.

Szymanski was fifth in 22:14.8, while freshman Ashley Choponis was seventh in 22:31.8.

Just outside the top 10 were Gordon, 11th in 22:39.5, and Sophia Porter, 12th in 22:45.0.

NMU, which finished second to Division I St. Thomas in the team standings, had another seven runners cracking the top 60 and finishing in under 24 minutes.

What was also important is this meet was that it marked the return of Szymanski, who suffered a season-ending injury early last season.

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