Senior Madison Malon leads Northern Michigan University runners at NCAA Division II cross country regional | News, Sports, Jobs

Members of the Northern Michigan University women’s cross country team pose while at the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Championships held in Kenosha, Wis., on Nov. 19. (Photo courtesy NMU)

KENOSHA, Wis. — Senior Madison Malon led the women’s cross country team from Northern Michigan University to a 13th-place finish at the season-ending NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Championships on Nov. 19 in southern Wisconsin.

Running in snowy conditions with temperatures in the 20s, the Wildcats placed in the top 15 for the 13th straight year by scoring 362 points. There were 31 teams competing on this day.

Malon was the first NMU runner to finish, as she came in the 44th in 22 minutes, 51.27 seconds on the six-kilometer (3.73-mile) course.

Northern freshman Madi Szymanski was less than 10 seconds behind in 23:01.02, good for 55th, while Gianna Hoving was 70th in 23:15.54 and Skylar Grubb 96th in 23:39.51.

Two fellow GLIAC schools finished in the top three as the league’s Grand Valley State won the meet with 31 points, with Cedarville (Ohio) runner-up with 73 and GLIAC member Wayne State third with 112.

GVSU’s Klaudia O’Malley won the individual title in 21:19.17, with teammates Lauren Kiley (21:28.65) second and Natalie Graber (21:29.16) third for a sweep of the podium.

Those top three schools automatically qualified their teams for the upcoming NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, along with GLIAC member Saginaw Valley State as an at-large selection.

Four individuals not from those schools were also chosen as at-large selections, all whom placed in the top 10 at the regional. The 10th-place finisher and one of the NCAA qualifiers was Katja Bauerle of Wisconsin-Parkside, who finished in 21:50.04.

The NCAA finals will be held Friday at University Park, Washington.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is [email protected].

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