NMU cross country back on course in Wisconsin
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MARQUETTE -- The women's cross country team at Northern Michigan University returns to action on Saturday afternoon in southern Wisconsin.
They'll be at a familiar setting for the Lucian Rosa Invitational hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, the site of the same meet last year along with the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Championship and even this past November's Division II Championship meet.
The Wildcats not only placed fourth out of 23 teams at the Lucian Rosa last year that was held at Parkside's nationally renowned Wayne E. Dannehl course, but did well enough in the NCAA regional that they qualified as a team for the national finals for the first time since 2017.
This season, NMU has also run well, placing runner-up in a seven-team field at the Phoenix Open hosted by Wisconsin-Green Bay on Sept. 12, and 10th of 17 teams in all NCAA divisions -- third among Division II -- at the Roy Griak Invite hosted by the University of Minnesota on Sept. 18.
Now with three weeks off, Saturday's noon EDT start will give the Wildcats a chance to improve their No. 8 ranking in the Midwest Region as voted upon by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Michigan Tech is just ahead of Northern at No. 7, while several other Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams are also in the top 10 -- Grand Valley State is No. 1, Saginaw Valley State No. 5 and Wayne State No. 6.
At the Roy Griak in Minneapolis, junior Ella DeBruyn led NMU with a personal-best time of 21 minutes, 21.3 seconds on the six-kilometer (3.7-mile) course to place 49th, which was also No. 5 among Division II runners.
Actually, the top six Northern runners and quite a few past that, too, all recorded career personal best times.
Sophomore Ashley Choponis was less than 15 seconds back in 21:35.0 for 65th overall and ninth in D-II, while a few tenths of a second later was senior Lamar Gordon in 21:35.4, 66th and 10th in D-II.
Ishpeming High School graduate and NMU junior Lola Korpi was next in 21:56.5 for 82nd, freshman Macy Guikema in 22:10.3 for 93rd and junior Anya VanSweden in 22:11.3 for 95th.
Other personal records were set by Northern's Addison Jones in 22:21.3, Dani
Northern Michigan University's Ashley Choponis runs to a third-place finish in the NMU Wildcat Open cross country exhibition meet held near the Superior Dome and along Lake Superior in Marquette on Aug. 21. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
In Green Bay a week earlier, DeBruyn again paced NMU, coming in fourth in 22:46.9, with Choponis right on her heels in fifth in 22:49.9, then Gordon sixth in 22:51.7 and Korpi 12th in 23:13.0.
Story contents based on a Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.