DeKALB – Senior Julia Finegan set a new personal record in the 5-kilometer race as NIU’s cross country team finished 15th out of 19 teams at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Classic on Friday. 

Despite Finegan’s career-setting afternoon, NIU finished in the lower half of all participating teams. She stood as the sole runner to break the top 50.

CAREER DAY FOR FINEGAN

Finegan’s 18:28.2 finish time in the 5-kilometer race shattered her previous personal record by over a minute. Her performance earned her the 49th position among all participants, establishing her as the leading Huskie to finish the race.

HUSKIE TRIO FINISHED WITHIN TOP 100 

Fifth-year Katelyn Robbins, graduate student Emma Planck and junior Joy Jackson all achieved finishes within the top 100.

Robbins clinched the 74th position with a finish time of 18:52.3, while Planck closely followed in 79th place, completing the race in 18:59.0. Jackson secured the 85th spot with a completion time of 19:02.8, as she was the final Huskie to finish within that range. 

REST OF THE PACK

The remaining four NIU participants finished more than 30 spots out of the top 100. 

Freshman Morgan Gioia finished in the 139th position, junior Emma Vorpagel came in 154th place shortly followed by junior Olivia Southby who attained the 155th position and topped off by senior Carly Leonard who took 159th. 

Despite an undesirable team performance, NIU cross country head coach Juan Carrillo expressed satisfaction with certain individual performances.

“We are still learning how to push through the hard times in a race on tired legs, but overall, we had some good individual performances but team-wise we could have been a little better,” Carrillo said via NIU Athletics. 

UP NEXT 

NIU’s cross country team will finish out the regular season with an Oct. 13 trip to Peoria for the Bradley Pink Classic. The race will begin at 1:30 p.m.