Oct. 17, 2009

Final Stats

WEST SALEM, Wis.- - The Northern Illinois women's cross country team recorded a13th-place finish at the Drews/Neubauer Invitational at UW-La Crosse in West Salem, Wis., after Courtney Oldenburg and Nancy Nieto recorded season-best times to finish first and second for the Huskies Saturday.

Oldenburg (West Salem, Wis./West Salem) finished first for the Huskies, 17th overall, when she recorded a season-best time of 22:30.8 in the six-kilometer race. Nieto (Elgin, Ill./Streamwood/Missouri State) finished second for NIU as she finished the race in a season-best time of 22:58.9, to place 33rd overall.

Sunsea Shaw (South Bend, Ind./Riley High School) finished third for the Huskies with a time of 24:00.2, while Nancy Maritim (Kericho, Kenya/AIC Litein) followed closely behind with a time of 24:22.2 to finish fourth for Northern Illinois. Breanna Brevitt (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) rounded out NIU's top-five finishers with a time of 24:39.1.

"I think this is a confidence builder," said assistant cross country coach Mark McConeghey. "Everybody ran a pretty good race today and our key people improved their race times. We will go into conference showing improvement, and we will see what happens in a few weeks."

NIU placed 13th at the invitational with 377 points, while UW-Eau Claire, Nebraska Wesleyan, UW-La Crosse, North Dakota State, and Wartburg College were the top-five finishers at the competition.

The Huskies will take a two-week break from competition before heading to the Mid-American Conference championships, Oct. 31, in Athens, Ohio.