Cross country is gearing up for the MAC Championships, where it has placed 11th or 12th out of 12 MAC teams the last four seasons.

The Huskies will compete in the MAC Championships, hosted by Central Michigan, 11 a.m. Saturday in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

NIU is brining seven runners to the competition: freshman Kelsey Hildreth, senior Meghan Heuer, junior Ali Olson, redshirt freshman Taylor Perkins, sophomore Carly Pederson, junior Hannah Savage and freshman Lorena Martin.

“Our expectation is to go in and be top half,” said head coach Greg Hipp. “We feel confident that we look that way on paper right now, and as I’ve told the girls: Even though we’ve got some people missing we got a good enough group this year to have a little bit of margin for error.

“So, I think we certainly feel confident that is what we’re capable of and it’s time for us to kind of get over that hump and be in the top half.”