Slew of Wildcats set personal records at Twin Cities cross country
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FORT SNELLING, Minn. -- The big stage and a little rain apparently only spurred on the women's cross country team of Northern Michigan University on Friday at the Roy Griak Invitational held Friday.
Virtually every Wildcats runner -- and all of them who finished in the top 100 -- set personal records in the Twin Cities area during the Suzy Wilson college women's race that included competitors from NCAA Divisions I, II and III.
In a field of 240 women finishers, junior Ella DeBruyn led Northern with a 49th place overall finish in a personal-best 21 minutes, 21.3 seconds on a six-kilometer (3.73-mile) course.
She also placed fifth among Division II runners, moving up as the kilometers rolled on. DeBruyn was in 108th place overall after 1K, moving up to 90th at 3K and 55th at 5.2K before just breaking into the top 50.
As a team, NMU finished in 10th place among 17 teams with 264 points, also placing third for D-II squads as only a pair of Minnesota schools finished ahead of them -- Winona State was sixth with 182 points and Minnesota State eighth with 228.
Host University of Minnesota from the Big Ten won the team title with 26 points as the Gophers' Isabelle Schmitz captured the individual crown in 19:44.8.
Also for the Wildcats, sophomore Ashley Choponis was second across the line in 21:35.0 for 65th place and ninth in D-II. This was also her personal-best time by three seconds, as she moved up about 50 spots from her 1K early position.
Next, and immediately after Choponis, was senior teammate Lamar Gordon in 66th in 21:35.4, 10th in D-II, setting another personal record. She was outside the top 100 after 1K before joining Choponis in catching up as the race wore on.
And junior Lola Korpi, an Ishpeming High School graduate, kept the PR parade going by finishing 82nd in 21:56.5, with two more Wildcats also cracking the top 100 with personal records -- freshman Macy Guikema 93rd in 22:10.3 and junior Anya VanSweden 95th in 22:11.3.
Another dozen Northern runners also competed, a majority also setting PRs. Freshman Addison Jones was 108th in 22:21.3, senior Dani Van Lente 109th in 22:21.5, freshman Audrey Hamilton 124th in 22:42.5, freshman Sophia Nunnery 128th in 22:47.9, Marquette product and sophomore Maija Maki-Warne 136th in 22:55.6, freshman Tania Boonstra 144th in 23:05.5, junior Madalyn Agren 145th in 23:07.1, freshman Sarah Stein 175th in 23:50.9, junior Emma Dell 176th in 23:52.6, junior Samantha Zolnierek 194th in 24:32.9, freshman Anne Hamilton 196th in 24:39.6 and senior Lana Mac 210th in 25:29.8.
The Wildcats take the next two weekends off before returning to action on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Lucian Rosa Invitational hosted by Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference member Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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Northern Michigan University's Ella DeBruyn leads the field of Wildcat runners and would win by nearly 20 seconds in the NMU Wildcat Open cross country meet held near the Superior Dome and along Lake Superior in Marquette on Aug. 21. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)