GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College women's cross country team competed in the Knight Invite on Saturday morning at the Gainey Athletic Complex. In a field filled with NCAA DII, NCAA DIII, NAIA, and Junior College opponents, the Hornets finished fifth out of 10 teams. Their total score was 120, with 11 different runners participating.
Hillsdale won the meet with a score of 32, while Calvin followed up at 43 points. DePauw and Grand Valley tied for third at 107 points, with DePauw taking the tiebreaker. That means GVSU finished in fourth, and Kalamazoo rounded out the top five. Again, the Hornets ran well, competing with Calvin and DePauw, who are ranked third and sixth in the NCAA DIII Great Lakes Region, respectively. Saint Mary's, Albion, Grand Rapids CC, Alma, and Adrian finished the rest of the teams in that order.
Paige Anderson, Anna Varitek, and Alison Hankins ran smart and tough up front, all having top-20 finishes in a loaded field. Anderson paced the Hornets in the 6k race and finished in 15th with a time of 23:32. Varitek followed closely, finishing at 23:59 in 17th, and Hankins came one second behind in 18th.
Maddie Hanulcik, Annalise Bailey, Elise Elliot, and Maya Alkema ran as a strong four through seven pack early, with Hanulcik picking it up late and passing a lot of runners for a top-30 finish at 26 with a time of 24:24. Bailey, Elliot, and Alkema rounded out the scoring for Kalamazoo. Bailey finished in 44th (26:00), Elliot came in 51st (26:37), and Alkema rounded out the scoring in 54th (26:54).
Also running for the Hornets were Annaliese Bol (27:51), Zenaida Sackett (28:58), Grace McGlynn (29:49), and Hayley VanWagoner (30:16).
"I'm very pleased with how the women competed today," said Head Coach Kyle Morrison. "We have put in two full weeks of training together and asked quite a bit from them. They stepped to the line confident today and opened up with what looks to be an exciting season."