NORMAL, Ill. – Katelyn Robbins (Liberty, Ill./Liberty) led the way for the Northern Illinois University women's cross country team as the Huskies competed at the Redbird Invite on Friday evening (Sept. 17) at the Weibring Golf Course. Robbins, who finished 41st overall, ran a time of 22:33.1 on the six-kilometer course. 

"I was proud of the girls; we are improving but we are not content," said NIU head coach Jamie Moreno. "We have a long way to go to reach the goals that we have for the MAC meet, but we will be there, I am confident of that.

"The meet went a lot better than two weeks ago. Having the two extra weeks of practice helped us a lot, having Sara Atkins back helped a lot. Our one through four ran pretty solid, then we had a little gap between our number four and our number five. Our one through four time gap was pretty good. Katelyn Robbins had a heck of a race; she continues to run well considering where she came from with injuries. She was our number one runner, and it is the first time she has ever been NIU's number one runner, so that is a big thing for her."

Running in hot conditions under a cloudless sky, Sara Atkins (Warrenville, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South) was second across the line for NIU in 23:06.0, finishing 61st. Atkins led a trio of Huskies in quick succession as Julia Finegan (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) was 65th in 23:09.1 and Brooke Lytle was 66th in 23:01.8. 

Also posting top-100 finishes for NIU were Victoria Robinson (Lansing, Kan./Kansas State) in 89th with a time of 23:51.0 and Joy Jackson (North Aurora, Ill./Benet Academy) finishing in 24:03.8 to take 98th.

NIU will return to action on Friday, Oct. 1, when the Huskies compete in the Joe Piane Invitational, hosted by the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. 


Team Scores
1. Illinois, 43
2. Northwestern, 52
3. Loyola-Chicago, 62
4. Illinois State, 134
5. Southern Indiana, 179
6. Marquette, 181
7. Southern Illinois, 194
8. Northern Iowa, 209
9. Drake, 210
10. NIU, 263
11. Valparaiso, 331
12. Southeast Missouri State, 347
13. SIU Edwardsville, 362

NIU Individuals
41. Katelyn Robbins, 22:33.1
61. Sara Atkins, 23:06.0
65. Julia Finegan, 23:09.1
66. Brooke Lytle, 23:10.8
89. Victoria Robinson, 23:51.0
98. Joy Jackson, 24:03.8
116. Emma Vorpagel, 24:37.0
117. Hannah Ricci, 24:47.5
123. Kaitlin Miller, 25:08.3