Women's Cross Country | September 29

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Julia Finegan (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) claimed a top-50 finish as the Northern Illinois University cross country team competed in the Gold Race at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Friday afternoon (Sept. 29). Finegan ran a time of 18:28.2 over the five-kilometer course as she led the Huskies for the second time this season. 

"Julia Finegan PR'ed by almost a minute, so that is great," said NIU head coach Juan Carrillo. "We had a few other runners just miss their PR's by a couple seconds, so that is another positive. We are still learning how to push through the hard times in a race on tired legs, but overall, we had some good individual performances but team-wise we could have been a little better."

Akron's Mary Munga won the Gold Race with a time of 17:02.9. The Zips also won the team competition by eight points ahead of Richmond, NIU finished 15th.

Finegan made steady progress throughout the race as she was in 60th after the opening mile and 55th at four kilometers before moving up six spots over the final kilometer of the race. 

Three other Huskies finished in the top 100 as Katelyn Robbins (Liberty, Ill./Liberty) was 74th in 18:52.3, Emma Planck (Downington, Pa./Downington West) claimed 79th in 18:59.0 and Joy Jackson (North Aurora, Ill./Benet Academy) took 85th with a time of 19:02.8. Jackson moved up 26 spots from the opening mile where she was 111th.

Freshman Morgan Gioia (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) also scored for NIU with a time of 20:22.9. 

"We wanted to be more aggressive at the start so that we didn't get caught up at the back," said Carrillo. "We did that but some of our runners couldn't maintain that through the race, but we committed to the plan and did it and we will make more adjustments in the next couple of weeks."

The Huskies will return to action on Friday, Oct. 13, when they travel to Peoria, Ill., to compete in the Bradley Pink Classic. 

Team Standings
1. Akron, 115
2. Richmond, 123
3. University of Chicago, 127
4. High Point, 132
5. Santa Clara, 152
15. NIU, 400

NIU Individuals
49. Julia Finegan, 18:28.2
74. Katelyn Robbins, 18:52.3
79. Emma Planck, 18:59.0
85. Joy Jackson, 19:02.8
139. Morgan Gioia, 20:22.9
154. Emma Vorpagel, 21:29.7
155. Olivia Southby, 21:30.3
159. Carly Leonard, 21:51.9