Northern Michigan University’s Madi Szymanski stands with an NCAA Championships banner at the event she participated in that was held in Joplin, Mo., on Nov. 18, 2023. She finished 65th that year in a field of more than 260 runners. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — The women’s cross country team at Northern Michigan University makes a relatively short trip to the southeastern corner of Wisconsin to compete at the NCAA Division II National Championships on Saturday morning.

Fellow conference member Wisconsin-Parkside is hosting the 34-school meet, just like the Rangers did two weeks earlier at the D-II Midwest Region meet when the Wildcats finished fourth to draw an at-large bid to the nationals.

NMU is ranked No. 12 in the nation and No. 4 in the Midwest Region in the most recent ratings released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

This marks Northern’s first appearance at the nationals since 2017, when the Wildcats finished tied for 13th out of 32 teams.

Saturday’s event, which begins at 11 a.m. EST, will actually be the third time NMU has run at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wisconsin, this season, also having finished fourth out of 23 teams at the Lucian Rosa Invitational on Sept. 27.

Fans can follow @NMU_Track_Field and @NMU_Wildcats on X for updates leading up to and during the meet, or visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the women’s cross country schedule for links to live video, the NCAA Championship web page and a meet and Wildcats preview.

“We were really happy when we finished fourth (at the regionals), and then I knew we had a pretty much 99% chance that we would be in the national championships,” Northern head coach Jenny Ryan said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the meet.

She said that in regards to only the top three teams at that 32-team meet automatically qualifying for nationals, with another handful of at-large spots determined later by an NCAA committee.

At that NCAA regional on Nov. 8, senior Madi Szymanski and freshman Ashley Choponis led Northern to a fourth-place finish by earning All-Region honors with their top-20 finishes.

Szymanski, a GLIAC First Team selection, paced her team by finishing 11th out of nearly 200 runners in 21 minutes, 17.45 seconds on the six-kilometer (3.73-mile) course.

Choponis wasn’t far behind in 20th in 21:41.78.

Another four of their teammates all broke into the top 50. Senior Sophia Potter was 40th in 22:12.20, junior Lamar Gordon 43rd in 22:15.65, senior Beverly Harper 46th in 22:20.54 and junior Emma Sweeney 49th in 22:26.00.

Only a few places further back and rounding out Northern’s seven-runner contingent was junior Dani Van Lente in 56th in 22:38.43. The entire group finished within 90 seconds of each other and the final five were within 30 seconds of each other.

The top four teams all matched their pre-meet Midwest ranking, Grand Valley State winning in dominant fashion with 25 points, Cedarville runner-up with 87, Lewis third with 90 and NMU fourth with 160.

Fifth-place Walsh, which scored 194 points, also made the NCAA Championships field, with sixth-place Saginaw Valley State that totaled 220 the first team out.

NMU’s most recent appearance at nationals in 2017 was held in Evansville, Indiana, when the Wildcats scored 389 points and improved their ranking from 24th place after one kilometer throughout the race until they finished 13th.

Menominee High School graduate Kameron Burmeister earned her second straight All-American award by leading Northern in 26th place in 21:33.7, beginning in 83rd after the first kilometer and moving up to 35th by the midpoint of the run.

Northern’s Katelyn Smith climbed more than a hundred spots from her first kilometer to come in 56th, while teammate Vivian Hett was 88th.

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.