Meghan Heuer, senior cross country runner, is hoping to end her career where it started: the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The NCAA Midwest Regional Championships is noon Friday in Peoria. That’s a course Heuer’s run four times in her career, including at this season’s Bradley Classic Oct. 17. The senior hopes she can leave it all on the course.

“My goals are to place better than I did last year and [set a personal record] because Bradley is a course that we run a lot, and you have times to compare with when you’re looking at it,” Heuer said.

If Heuer or the team qualify for the NCAA National Championships she would make a return trip 11 a.m. Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind.

Heuer started her college career at Kansas State, where she ran for the Wildcats during the 2010 season. In her first season with the Wildcats, Heuer was a key member of the team that made the program’s first trip to the national championship in 10 years. She finished 173rd at the NCAAs, clocking in at 21:56.40.

But, Heuer, of St. Charles, left Kansas State and returned home. She made the jump back to Illinois to be closer to home and felt the change would be beneficial financially.

She continued her education at Elgin Community College and didn’t return to the course until the 2013 season after nearly 20 months away from cross country. When she returned to the course she was wearing cardinal and black and running for the Huskies.

The 2014 season has been the best to date for Heuer as she has set personal bests in the 6K — 21:09 at the MAC Championships Nov. 1 — and the 5K — 17:50.61 at the Greater Louisville Classic Oct. 4.

“I feel it’s added up since last year because before I came on I was running on my own, and then it’s gradually going up with the miles over the years,” Heuer said. “So, I’ve just been putting in my miles as I’ve gotten older.”

Heuer, alongside teammate Kelsey Hildreth, is one of two runners in program history to be named to the All-MAC team after a career-best 11th place finish at the MAC Championships Nov. 1.

“Currently, this fall in cross country she really put it together at the conference meet, and leaving as an All-MAC runner certainly cements herself as — other than only her teammate — it’s pretty easy to say she’s the second-best cross country runner that’s ever been at NIU,” said head coach Greg Hipp. “Not hard to argue [with] that, she’s definitely given herself a place in our program history in her short amount of time here.”