The Gustavus women’s cross country team placed 12th at the NCAA III National Championships on Saturday, November 22 in Hanover, Indiana on the campus of Hanover College.
Gustavus placed 12th with 314 points. Middlebury won the meet with 135 points.
Gustavus was led at the 6K race by senior Jen Skalko and junior Nicole Petersen. Skalko finished in 44th place with a time 23:11.6. Petersen was right behind her in 45th place with a time of 23:11.9. Wartburg’s Missy Butry won the individual title with a time of 20:00.2
The 12th place finish for the Gusties was the highest finish at the national meet in school history. The only other time Gustavus made it to the national competition as a team was in 1995 when the squad placed 13th.
Also competing at the national race for Gustavus was junior Ali Cordie (104th, 23:52.7), junior Tasha Pike (114th, 23:58.0), sophomore Mollie Lager (158th, 24:29.6), and senior Rachel Schwingler (183rd, 25:15.5).
All three teams from the Central Region (Gustavus, Nebraska Wesleyan, and Wartburg) all finished in the top 15. That means that next season the Central Region will have four representatives at the national meet.
NCAA National Championships Team Results
- Middlebury 135
- Trinity (CT) 174
- UW-Stevens Point 193
- Williams 206
- Amherst 225
- Dickinson 257
- UW-La Crosse 263
- Willamette 269
- College of New Jersey 281
- Nebraska Wesleyan 307
- UW-Oshkosh 311
- Gustavus 314
- Allegheny 325
- Wartburg 334
- Calvin 341
- Haverford 341
- Ithaca 347
- Chicago 353
- Bowdoin 392
- Mount Union 401
- Emory 454
- Geneseo SUNY 456
- St. Lawrence 494
- Otterbein 513
For complete results of the NCAA National Championships, click here.