DeKALB – Senior Katelyn Robbins was once again the first Huskie to cross the finish line as NIU’s cross country team finished ninth out of the 10 participating teams at the Mel Brodt Collegiate Open on Friday.

Not a single NIU contestant secured a spot within the top 10, after three Huskies snatched top 10 honors in the season opener. 

TWO HUSKIES FINISH IN THE TOP HALF

Despite a relatively quiet evening on the trail, a pair of contestants finished in the top half amongst racers. 

Robbins was the first Huskie to reach the finish line, securing the 52nd position out of 110 participants. Robbins finished with a time of 22:57.78. 

Trailing Robbins by just five seconds was senior Julian Finegan. Finegan took home a 55th place finish with a recorded time of 23:02.44. 

REST OF THE PACK

Amongst participating runners, the five remaining Huskies finished in the bottom half.

Junior Joy Jackson finished 14 spots behind Finegan with a 23:37.1 recorded time. Jackson paced 41 other athletes for the 69th position. 

Freshman Morgan Giola, senior Carly Leonard and sophomore Lydia Bauer all finished In the bottom 15. Giola finished in 95th place, with Leonard and Bauer closely following in the 96th and 98th positions, respectively.

Graduate student Emma Planck completed just one mile on the six-kilometer course. Planck is slowly making progress upon an undisclosed injury. 

“We also missed Emma Planck, who started the race but is coming back from injury, so we didn’t have her run the whole distance,” said cross country head coach Juan Carillo via NIU Athletics.

UP NEXT 

NIU is scheduled to take a week-long break before embarking on a trip on Sept. 29 to South Bend, Indiana, for the Notre Dame Invite. The start time for the event has not yet been announced.