Sept. 19, 2008

Complete Results

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Anchored by senior Meghan Ginter, the Northern Illinois cross country team finished ninth out of 25 teams at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships, Friday.

Assistant track and field coach Mark McConeghey said his team is continuing to get better every week.

"Times are coming down and if they keep coming down until the conference championships we'll be pretty good," he said.

Ginter (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) ran the five-kilometer race in 19:24 to finish as the top Huskie in the field and 28th overall. After taking the top spot from Ginter in the team's last race, sophomore Sunsea Shaw (South Bend, Ind./Riley) finished 10 seconds behind her in 39th place.

Ashley Rittenbacher (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) ran third for NIU with a time of 20:27, followed by sophomore Breanna Brevitt (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) who came in at 20:42. Freshman Jessica Troike (Tuscola, Ill./Tuscola) broke into the Huskie top five with a time of 21:16.

McConeghey said the team has its strategy figured, but the execution fell off slightly from last week at the Huskie Open.

"A couple of girls who packed really well at the last meet got a little more spread out," he said. "We've figured it out, that if we pack we'll go up to fifth or sixth (in meets like this)."

The Huskies continue the season at the Roy Griak Inviational, a six-kilometer race in St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 27.

NIU Results
28. Meghan Ginter, 19:24
39. Sunsea Shaw, 19:34
73. Ashley Rittenbacher, 20:27
81. Breanna Brevitt, 20:42
98. Jessica Troike, 21:16