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NIU Women's Cross Country Places Fourth At WMU Bronco Invitational

Huskie sophomore Meghan Ginter leads squad with 16th-place finish of 19:30



Sophomore Meghan Ginter finished as NIU's number one runner for the third-straight week in a row on Friday.

Sept. 22, 2006

Complete Results

Three Rivers, Mich. - With the Mid-American Conference Championships in mind, the Northern Illinois women's cross country squad wanted to see where the Huskies stood among its conference compatriots.

They had their chance on Friday afternoon as they placed fourth at the Bronco Invitational with 102 points, hosted by Western Michigan, behind WMU (34), Ball State (37), Eastern Michigan (65) at Pine View Golf Course.

Northern Illinois Assistant Cross Country Coach Mark McConeghey was pleased with the Huskies' improvement from the previous weeks as only 33 seconds separated NIU's number one runner to their number five.

"I'm satisfied, but there is always room for improvement," McConeghey said. "We want to continue to improve, but now we have to make the jump closer to the front and make it together.

"This meet is a good indicator of what we have to do in order to prepare for the conference meet."

NIU sophomore Meghan Ginter (Aurora, Ill.) finished 16th overall with a team-best mark of 19:30. Sophomore Ashley Rittenbacher (New Lenox, Ill.) followed Ginter with a 20th-place finish of 19:54.

Following close behind Rittenbacher were junior Denisse Valladares (Mount Prospect, Ill.) and junior Mia Supanich-Winter (Libertyville, Ill.). Valladares placed 21st with a time of 19:56, while Supanich-Winter was three seconds behind. Huskie junior Brenda Zepeda (Cicero, Ill.) rounded out the scoring for NIU with a 24th-place time of 20:03.

Eastern Michigan's Kelli Williams won the race, finishing in 18:04. Williams was followed by Ball State's Sarah Kehe (18:34) and Ali Bishel (18:36); and Western Michigan's Kristi Powers (18:47) and Jennifer Roberts (18:55).

 

 

The Huskies are back in action on Friday, September 29, as they travel to South Bend, Ind., to participate in the Notre Dame / adidas Classic at 3:15 p.m. (CST).

--NIU--