(Grand Rapids, MI) - The Women's Cross Country team traveled to Grand Rapids for the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge hosted by Aquinas College. The team took on a rainy, muddy course at Riverside Park. The team powered through to finish with 465 points and a 17th-place finish.

The team was led by Michaela Kurth (Freshman; Ypsilanti, MI) crossing the finish line in a time of 22:28. She was followed by Chloe Gunter (Junior; Monroe, MI) running her best time of the season in 22:50. The Cardinals then had Macee Ripke (Freshman; Napoleon, OH) with a time of 22:58. The fourth finisher for the Cardinals was Emma McKinley ( Freshman; Gaylord, MI) who crossed in a time of 23:13. The team had three runners finish within 4 seconds of each other, as Rachael Byers (Freshman; Plymouth, MI), Amanda Fogo (Sophomore; Fowlerville, MI) and Mary Salem (Senior; Troy, MI) finished in times of 23:28, 23:30 and 23:32 respectively. Salem finished with a season-best effort on the day.

Alison Doerr (Sophomore; Grand Haven, MI) finished behind the trio at 23:38 and earned a new collegiate-best time. Grace Finley (Freshman; Monroe, MI) and Elizabeth Hines ( Freshman; Ypsilanti, MI) finished off the day with times of 24:20 and 26:42.

"We saw something we have not seen yet this season. We had a group of about 7 girls cross the mile mark in a pack. That was very exciting as a coach to see the team running together and working together. We executed very well early on and we thought we set ourselves up well. However, it might have been the conditions or weather or just wasn't our day but we came up just short on a bunch of PRs. However, it was still fun to watch the group work together," said Head Coach Dominic Santina.

The team will be back in action on Friday, November 3 at the WHAC Championships hosted by Aquinas at Riverside Park.