DeKALB – Graduate student runner Emma Planck and senior Julia Finegan paced five other Huskies participants as NIU took 11th place at the MAC Championship on Saturday. 

For the third consecutive season, the Huskies have finished in the bottom two spots at the MAC Championship. NIU finished dead last in the tournament last year and improved by one spot on Saturday. 

“We improved by one place from last year, so that is progress,” said NIU cross country head coach Juan Carrillo via an NIU Athletics press release. “Emma Planck ran her fastest 6K time as a Huskie and Julian Finnegan had a PR also today. Some of our other runners were also close to their PR, so overall it was progress.”

Toledo University won the MAC championship for the third consecutive season with a final score of 69 points. 

Coming in first place individually was Central Michigan University redshirt junior Emily Paupore, beating all runners with a 20:30.27 finish. 

Following behind by just over a second was Eastern Michigan University senior Esme Davies, who completed her race in 20:31.52.

Ohio University junior Theresa Hagey crossed the finish line in 20:33.74 to round out the top three. 

TWO HUSKIES HIT PR 

Planck’s 22:11.62 finish not only secured 41st place in the tournament but also broke her previous personal record in the 6-kilometer race. 

“That was a big success for us, to have seven girls on the line healthy, and for some of them to run PRs, that is progress, I’ll take that,” Carillo said. “They gave me their all today, and I can’t ask more than that.” 

Nursing an injury two weeks before the race, Finegan trailed Planck by 16 seconds to secure 51st place in the tournament. Her 22:27.05 finish marked a new 6-kilometer PR for Finegan. 

“Julia (Finegan) was fighting an injury for the last two weeks, so to come here today and run with a lot of heart and compete, I’m proud of that,” Carrillo said. 

UP NEXT

NIU cross country will travel to the NCAA Midwest Regional at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 10 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.