Northern Michigan University’s Ashley Choponis nears the finish line and takes second place in the collegiate part of the Wildcat Open cross country meet held on campus in Marquette on Aug. 22, 2025. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — There’s really no rush to get summer over with, but it’s certain that the women’s cross country team at Northern Michigan University is eagerly looking forward to this fall’s season.

That’s because Northern is coming off one of its most successful years in program history under head coach Jenny Ryan, who was named the Coach of the Year in the recently released NMU Wildcat Awards.

She led the Northern to its first NCAA Division II Championships appearance in almost a decade as this Wildcats squad attained a No. 12 national ranking, runner-up finish in the GLIAC Championships to eventual national champ Grand Valley State, and fourth place in a 32-team field at the NCAA Midwest Regional.

Northern won’t even have to wait for the official start of fall, getting a head start on autumn just about a month early with the annual Wildcat Open exhibition to be held in Marquette on Friday, Aug. 21. The NMU Sports Information news release about the schedule didn’t mention where this meet will be, though the past several years it has been held near the Superior Dome and along the Lake Superior shore, while other iterations of it have been at the NMU Golf Course in Chocolay Township.

Taking three weeks off after that, Northern opens the regular season on Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Phoenix Open at Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The following weekend, Friday, Sept. 18, the Wildcats travel to the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational with its huge field and numerous divisions hosted by the University of Minnesota in St. Paul.

That’s the last time NMU heads fully west. Following another three-week break, Northern makes its next trek due south to Kenosha, Wisconsin, for the Lucian Rosa Invitational at Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Two weeks later, there’s the Warrior Challenge in Detroit and hosted by Wayne State on Saturday, Oct. 24, followed up by the Husky Invitational in Houghton hosted by Michigan Tech on Friday, Oct. 30.

The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships makes for another trip south, but this time into northwestern Indiana in Hammond at Purdue Northwest on Friday, Nov. 6.

The NCAA postseason opens at the Midwest Regional Championships back at Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 21, with those qualifying headed to the NCAA D-II Championships set for Lawrence, Kansas, on Friday, Dec. 4.

Last year’s Wildcats were led by the now-departed Madi Szymanski but also by sophomore-to-be Ashley Choponis, both of whom earned All-GLIAC and All-Region honors.

Senior-to-be Lamar Gordon and the departed Emma Sweeney also were named All-GLIAC picks.

This year’s large group of 26 runners includes three seniors, eight juniors, five sophomores and 10 freshmen.

Story contents based on a

Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the schedule. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.