GENEVA, Ill. - The Kalamazoo College women's cross country team began its 2023 season at the Aurora Invite on Saturday (Sept. 9) at the Northwestern Medicine XC Course. The Hornets won the meet with 38 points, marking the first time that the women's cross country team has won a race since 2005 when the team won the Manchester Invitational.
Following Kalamazoo was Aurora in second with 42 points (won the tiebreaker), Wheaton in third with 42 points, Albion in fourth with 100 points, and Waubonsee CC in fifth with 155 points.
The Hornets had three runners in the top 10 as Paige Anderson came in second, Alison Hankins finished in fourth, and Haleigh Nower crossed the line in sixth. Anderson had a time of 22:25, Hankins crossed at 24:27, and Nower finished at 24:42.
Grabbing top 15 finishes for Kalamazoo were Alisa Mason in 12th and Cate Cotter in 14th. Both running in their first collegiate races, Mason finished with a time of 25:13 and Cotter crossed the line 10 seconds later at 25:23. Allie Nutt and Annalise Bailey rounded out the scoring for the Hornets with 22nd and 24th-place finishes. Nutt ran a 25:54 in her first collegiate race, while Bailey finished in 26:07.
Also running for Kalamazoo were Maddie Hanulcik (26:25), Maya Alkema (27:11), Lucy VanDemark (27:36), Grace McGlynn (28:09), Annaliese Bol (38:32), Mart Klenke (28:59), and Madison Magda (30:18).
"What an exciting race to kick off the season," said Head Coach Kyle Morrison. "We went head to head with Aurora and Wheaton, both ranked in the Midwest Region. Paige and Alison really opened the race up. Haleigh is in the best shape of her life and running amazingly for us. Then, our deep pack helped make this a complete team race. Newcomers Alisa and Cate sealed the win by just a couple of points. I'm ecstatic with how the women ran. We've worked hard the last two weeks and didn't rest, so I know there's more to come. They're hungry and have some big goals this fall."
Kalamazoo will head back to Illinois on Saturday (Sept. 16) to run in the Wheaton Gil Dodds Invite at the St. James Farm Forest Preserve in Warrenville, Ill.