Cross country failed to send a runner to the national championship, but it did accomplish its goals of garnering at least one All-Region runner at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships.

Senior Meghan Heuer and freshman Kelsey Hildreth earned All-Region honors, which were presented to the top 25 runners, Friday at the Newman Golf Course in Peoria. Heuer and Hildreth became the first runners in program history to achieve the honor, which came exactly two weeks after they became the first All-MAC performers in NIU history.

Hildreth finished the 6K race in 11th place (20:36.4) out of 222 runners while Heuer crossed the finish in 20th place (20:47.3).

As a team, the Huskies finished in 23rd place out of 32 teams. The No. 5 Iowa State Cyclones won the meet with 66 points, having five women finish in the top 30.

“For [Friday], I think that was a good finish,” said head coach Greg Hipp. “The girls did a nice job. Currently, we had some bigger goals for the year, but losing three of our returning four [runners] was something we couldn’t quite overcome.”

Heuer improved on her place from last season’s regionals, jumping 25 places from 45th in 2013 to 20th in 2014.

“That was really [a] phenomenal race for her,” Hipp said. “She ran really aggressively and got herself up kind of in there with the leaders early, and it really paid off for her to take that chance early.”

In her first regionals race, Hildreth capped off her freshman campaign as the top runner from a school in Illinois, finishing one place in front of Bradley’s Caitlin Busch. She was second among freshmen in the region behind Missouri’s Karissa Schweizer.

“Kelsey had a great fall, [and] she just further backed up what kind of runner she is,” Hipp said.

NIU was one of four teams that had two runners finish in the top 20. The Huskies did not get the race times they needed outside of their top two, but they still managed to set personal records during the weekend.

Sophomore Carly Pederson ran a personal record time of 22:34.8. Redshirt freshman Taylor Perkins also set a personal record, running a 22:59.7. Freshman Lorena Martin finished with a 22:34.8.