Cross country placed its three entrees in the top half during the Huskie Open Friday.

Huskie runners Alexis Capps, Rachel Shoemaker and Hannah Savage were among the 83 male and female collegiate and community runners who took part in the 5K race at the NIU North 40.

The second annual Huskie Open featured six teams. No team scores were tallied during the event. The top overall finisher was Marshall Moyer from Bradley University with a time of 15:38.07. The top woman finisher was Northwestern University’s Jena Pianin, timing in at 18:24.85.

The Huskie Open generally featured runners who will not compete in their school’s regional championships, which will begin next weekend. The event also gave an opportunity for area runners to give the course a go.

“It’s neat to get some people involved who usually do not come to our events,” said head coach Greg Hipp. “[I’m] Glad to have them out here I appreciate those who came out to support it.”

The top NIU finisher was senior Capps, who participated in her final cross country race as a college runner. Capps raced in 22 competitions during her four-year NIU career. Her time Friday was 20:00.26, which put her in 34th place.

Capps said it was nice to finish her career at home.

“It was good that it was at home because it gave me the boost of confidence knowing this was my last time to run this course,” Capps said. “I just wanted to leave it all on the course and race hard.”

Hipp was happy to see Capps competing in cardinal and black for the last time.

“I’m glad she had an opportunity to run one more time,” Hipp said. “Someone who has put in four years to be able to get that one last race in at home is something we were excited that she was able to do.”

Shoemaker finished four spots behind Capps in 38th and crossed the finish line with a time of 20:21.89. Savage, during her final race of the season, finished with her second-best 5K time of the year, coming in with 20:36.51.

Hipp would have liked to see more, but he feels his runners took something out of the race.

“They were probably shooting for a little more today,” Hipp said. “But hopefully this gives them some motivation moving forward into the track season.”