Paige Anderson of the Kalamazoo College women's cross country team was named the SAAC Women's Hornet of the Week on Tuesday (Oct. 4).
In their third race of the season, the Hornets competed against some of the best NCAA DIII cross country teams at the NCAA DII Pre-Nationals meet. Kalamazoo finished 20th out of 36 teams but was the third-best MIAA team and ninth-best Great Lakes Region team. Five teams from the region had top-15 finishes, plus Calvin and Trine were the only two MIAA teams ahead of the Hornets.
Anderson ran the best race of her collegiate career, running a 23:01 6k. That time shattered her career-best at Kalamazoo by 21 seconds and gave her a 34th place finish at the meet. There were a total of 316 total runners at the race, and among MIAA finishers, Anderson had the fourth best time. She outperformed many runners who qualified for the NCAA DIII Championships last season.
As a sophomore, Anderson has consistently been the Hornets' top runner this season. This finish was the third time this year running a sub-23:40 6k after only doing it once last season.
Kalamazoo will next race on Saturday (Oct. 15) at the Augustana College Invite in Rock Island, Ill., beginning at 11:30 a.m.
2022-23 Women's Hornets of the Week
Paige Anderson, Cross Country
Halley Johnson, Volleyball
Destiny Garcia, Soccer
Ellie Andrews, Soccer
Sydney Pickell, Golf