Cross country’s top two runners made program history Saturday at the MAC Championships in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Freshman Kelsey Hildreth and senior Meghan Heuer became the first All-MAC performers in program history. But, the Huskies didn’t get enough help from their supporting cast, finishing in ninth place (212 points) out of 12 teams.

Hildreth notched a fifth-place finish out of 84 runners, timing in at 20:33 to make All-MAC First Team. Heuer ran a 21:09 and took 11th place, which placed her on the All-MAC Second Team.

“I was happy with how I did,” Hildreth said. “My goal was top five going into it, so I was happy.”

Both runners ran personal records during the 6K race, smashing their previous bests by 22 seconds.

“Meghan did really well,” Hildreth said. “Like, I could hear everyone cheering for her right behind me the whole race, so I was happy that she was so close to me during the race.”

Heuer’s finish was 26 spots better than her 37th-place finish at the 2013 MAC Championships.

“I thought it was pretty awesome for us,” Heuer said. “Kind of unbelievable that Kelsey just comes in here and runs in the top five. … That’s the first time I’ve been up [with the top finishers] in [the] MAC. I know last year I was a lot [further] behind. It’s exciting.”

Despite the high finishes, NIU failed to meet its team goal of finishing in the top half of the MAC.

“We just fell short there,” said head coach Greg Hipp. “That group certainly knows that they’re capable of more, and we flat out just didn’t get it done in those [three to five] spots. … Cross country is team-oriented, and one superstar can’t carry a team when five people have to score, so we’ve got to see the whole group adapt a different mentality when it comes to cross country.”

Toledo won the event title, having five runners finish in the top 15, giving the Rockets their fourth title in five years.

Eastern Michigan’s Victoria Voronko was the individual champion, finishing just 12 seconds better than Hildreth at 20:21.