DeKALB — NIU cross country had their second meet of the season at Illinois State Redbird Invitational on Friday, finishing in 10th place out of the 13 teams at the invite.

Redshirt sophomore Katelyn Robbins led the way for the Huskies Friday evening, placing 41st place overall and finishing with a time of 22:33.1 on the six-kilometer course. 

Graduate student Sara Atkins finished second for the Huskies, crossing the finish line with a time of 23:06.0, finishing 61st overall. Not too far behind her was a pair of her teammates. 

Sophomore Julia Finegan finished 65th overall with a time of 23:09.1, and right next to her was junior Brooke Lytle, who finished 66th overall with a time of 23:10.8.

NIU also had two other runners finish within the top 100, with redshirt senior Victoria Robinson placing 89th with a time of 23:51.0 and freshman Joy Jackson finishing in 98th with a time of 24:03.8.

Head coach Jaime Moreno saw the improvement that his team made from their last meet to this meet at the Redbird Invitational. 

“I was proud of the girls; we are improving, but we are not content,” Moreno said in a Sept. 17 NIU news release. “The meet went a lot better than two weeks go.”

The NIU cross country team hopes to improve and place even higher on Oct. 1, where they will compete in the Joe Piane Invitational, hosted by the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.