Meet Time…The NAIA National Cross Country Championships will be on Saturday, November 21 at Vancouver, Wash. The women's race is set to begin at 11:45 PST, around 1:45 our time. Follow along via the NAIA cross country championships site at the following link: National Championship Preview | Championship Website
Participants... Charity Miles, a junior from Thedford, Neb., is the lone runner from Northwestern competing at this weekend's championship event. Thirty-two women’s teams, including 23 conference/independent/unaffiliated champions, two conference runners-up, six at-large bids, one host berth and 117 individual qualifiers, will run in the 5K race. Azusa Pacific (Calif.) captured its first women's cross country title in 2008. Armed as the top-ranked team, the Cougars will look to junior Jacky Kipwambok, who finished second at the national meet a year ago.
Last Year... Miles finished 31st out of 327 runners at the 2008 NAIA Women's Cross Country Championships, run at the Wayne E. Dannehl Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wis.
Miles recorded a season-best time of 18:08 in the 5K and placed 31st, just one spot away from earning All-American honors for the second straight season. The top 30 individual runners are named NAIA All-American. Miles ran at a 5:51 pace and was the second GPAC runner to cross the finish line (Jen Kempers (Dordt) placed ninth overall).
Azusa Pacific (Calif.) won the women's team title with a team total of 66 points and the individual title went to Alissa McKaig (Indiana Tech) who finished the 5,000m course in a time of 16:41.
Last Time Out... Charity Miles finished in 10th place at the GPAC Cross Country Championships and qualified for the national meet for the third straight year. Northwestern placed fourth out of 12 teams in the women's race. The junior finished the 5K race in 18:51 and placed 10th overall, earning all-conference honors.
The women's team placed fourth overall with 114 points, behind Nebraska Wesleyan (29), Concordia (64) and Morningside (81). The top two teams, excluding Nebraska Wesleyan, qualify for nationals.
Allison Weeldreyer, a sophomore from Marion, S.D., finished 23rd with a time of 19:34, followed closely behind by Teresa Scholten, who placed 24th with a time of 19:35. Ingrid Carlson, a senior from Sanborn, Iowa, and Sara Hess, a junior from Washington, Iowa, finished 28th (19:44) and 29th (19:47), respectively. Breann Rozeboom (53rd), Corrine Muyskens (64th), Angela Wiggins (70th) and Leslie Stover (72nd) also competed for the Red Raiders.
Miles finished in the top 10 in all three races she competed this season, with a seventh, ninth and 10th place finish. As a freshman, Miles earned NAIA All-American honors with a fifth place finish at the national championships, completing the 5K course in 17:49.
This will end the 2009 cross country season for the Red Raiders.
