Saturday, November 02, 2002

The Valparaiso University women's cross country team finished in a fourth place tie at the Mid-Continent Conference Cross Country Championships held in Indianapolis, Ind. on Saturday morning.

Southern Utah was the team champion with 37 points followed by Western Illinois with 86 points. Oral Roberts (94 pts.) was third, followed by the Crusaders and Oakland (97 pts.) each. IUPUI was sixth (105 pts.), followed by UMKC (158) and Chicago State (236).

The Crusaders were led by Rachel Nelson's (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit H.S.) eighth place finish with a time of 23:00 over the 6K course. Amy Mikel (Lemont, Ill./Fenwick H.S.) placed 13th in a time of 23:17, while Elizabeth Whiting (Parma, Mich./Western H.S.) also finished in the top-20 with her 20th place finish (23:53). Heidi Nathan (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford H.S.) was fourth for the Brown and Gold and 26th overall (24:10), while Amanda Lee (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon H.S.) rounded out the scoring with a 30th place finish in a time of 24:24.

Jobeth Schmiesing (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West H.S.) (24:55/38th), Lauren Kersey (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South H.S.) (26:09/49th), and Ingrid Schwenk (Hope, Ind./Hauser H.S.) (26:13/51st) rounded out the Valpo line-up.

The Crusaders will return to action on Nov. 16 at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in West Lafayette, Ind.