NIU cross country finished in 11th place out of 51 teams at the 40th annual Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, Ill.

The Huskies placed nine spots better than they did at the same meet last year. In addition, the Huskies finished eighth among U.S. colleges, beating out schools like Western Michigan, Northern Iowa and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Coach Greg Hipp said he is glad with the 20th place finish but thought his team could have performed better.

“It was significantly better than what we finished last year,” Hipp said. “Last year we were 20th, and the field this year was stronger than the teams in the past. We still didn’t feel we had our best race, I feel like a lot of that is that we have been putting a lot of training in, which makes us a little fatigued heading into the meet.”

NIU had three players finish in the top 100 in a field that featured over 500 runners. Those runners would be lone senior Courtney Oldenburg in 20th place, freshman Ali Olson in 73rd place and sophomore Jamie Burr in 78th.

“Courtney was around fifty spots higher than she was a year ago,” Hipp said. “She’s a type of girl who can compete with the top five out there when 100 percent healthy. Jamie Burr and Ali Olson both had solid races. Ali was sick for a couple days ago with an illness and Jamie has put a good couple weeks of training to get where she is at now. Both of them weren’t too thrilled with their finish because their standards are a lot higher. The same goes for the rest of the team.”

McMaster (Ontario) took first place overall in team play, while the host, Loyola of Illinois, finished second overall and first among U.S. colleges.

Tamara Jewett of Toronto finished first overall in individual play with a time of 17:17. Elinor Kirk of UAB was top among U.S. colleges with a time of 17:32.

Oldenburg finished with a time of 18:09, which marks her second-best time on a 5K course.

“We all kind of felt a little bit tired because of our training,” Oldenburg said. “I was feeling a little sick during the week. I was congested but I don’t want to use that as an excuse. I am happy with a 20th place finished since I improved on my finish last year. I wanted to do a little bit better, but at the same time I am happy with performing a lot better than last year and beating that many girls is pretty cool, too.”

Olson was second among NIU runners with an 18:48 mark, while Burr came in not too long afterwards with an 18:52 time.