Graduate student Camille Jackson led NIU cross-country at the Mid-American Conference Championship as the Huskies finished in 12th place. 

NIU finished behind Kent State University in the final standings, with the Golden Flashes finishing in 11th place. 

The University of Toledo was the champion of the event, finishing in first place. Toledo’s top individual finisher was redshirt freshman Mercy Kinyanjui, who also took first place. 

Jackson was the top qualifier for the Huskies in its final invitational of the season with a 70th place finish. 

The University of New Mexico transfer tallied a new personal best in the 6k, finishing with a time of 22:58.4. 

Graduate student Bailey Wilk was the next best finisher for the Huskies, finishing a few spots behind Jackson in 73rd place. Wilk’s 6k time of 23:09.3 marks a new season best.

The Huskies had three straight athletes finish in 93rd, 94th and 95th place. 

Freshman Rachel Dietrich finished in 93rd place, with a final time of 24:36.3. 

Senior Emma Vorpagel finished in 94th place and logged a time of 24:40.3 in her second 6k of the season. Vorpagel failed to surpass her season-best 6k time of 24:25 at the Bradley Pink Classic on Oct. 18. 

Sophomore Morgan Gioia was the final Huskie to finish at the invitational, finishing in 95th place. Gioia finished with a time of 24:41.4, which was 1.1 seconds behind her teammate Vorpagel. 

“We got better today,” said NIU cross-country head coach Juan Carrillo via NIU Athletics. “For Camille (Jackson), this was her best time since her sophomore year at Colorado, so that is a lot of progress. Bailey (Wilk) ran a season-best today. One-two we were solid, people are getting better at the right time, at three, four and five, we could have been more competitive but even at three, four and five, we were faster than we were last year at this championship.”

The Huskies next invitational will be on Nov. 15 at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Peoria, Illinois.